Savin' The Galaxy
by No Guns Only Roses
Summary: Mikey is framed for a crime he didn't commit and is sent to the space prison facility Kyln. There he meets and befriends a rather odd group: an outlaw, an assassin, a rage machine, a walking tree, and a talking trigger-happy raccoon. He escapes with them and goes on an epic galactic journey that he will never forget. Crossover between TMNT and the movie GOTG. Cover by TheRedOkami
1. Chapter 1

**Shinigamilover2 requested a crossover between TMNT and GOTG. Of course, something like this is too big for the "Bullets and Thorns" one-shot collection, so this will be a multi-chapter story! This takes place after "The Ever-Burning Fire" but before "Earth's Last Stand".**

 **NOTE: There will probably be grammar mistakes which I will fix later.**

Space was so beautiful...but so boring.

Mikey sighed as he looked out the window, sitting on the platform cross-legged with his chin resting in his hands. He wished he could listen to some music, and not just the boring Beethoven Symphonies that Fugitoid enjoys so much. He'd listen to the tunes in his T-phone if he could, but the screen got cracked last night after he accidentally sat on it.

He wish they could just hurry up and save the Earth so that they could go back to their normal lives. Well, okay, that sounded wrong. Since when were their lives ever normal?

"Enjoying the view, my friend?" Fugitoid approached the window and stood next the Turtle.

Mikey shrugged a little. "It's all pretty much the same up here. I miss the blue sky and puffy white clouds that you could make out shapes with back on Earth."

The robot nodded and gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder. "I know, Michelangelo. We are near the end of our galactic journey, though. We must first stop on Planet Skyria for refueling."

"Please don't tell me there are killer bugs or dinosaurs or sharks on that planet?" Mikey groaned, not in the mood for more fighting.

Fugitoid shook his head. "Oh, no. None of the sort. The Skyrians are a peaceful and friendly race who share their natural resources and fuel with weary travelers. We shouldn't have any problems with them."

"Let's hope so," Mikey mumbled disheartened, knowing their luck.

* * *

 _ **Skyria, the Planet of Souls**_

The first thing they saw as the Ulixes entered Skyria's stratosphere was Mount Lorixia, the sun reflecting off its smooth amethyst surface.

Mikey pressed his face against the glass, softly gasping in awe as they flew in closer to the mountain. According to what Fugitoid told them, there is legend behind the glorious landscape. The locals believe that the very souls of their ancestors resided in the rocks, and for millions of years the mountain grew with each soul. There was nothing that the Skyrians valued more than the sacred rocks of Mount Lorixia, so taking one as a souvenir was a big no-no.

Even their magnificent shiny capitol reflected the mountain's color, making it appear purple. It was absolutely stunning. The ship landed on the top of a skyscraper as instructed by the Skyrians through the transmitter. A small group awaited them, and one Skyrian in particular wore a long purple robe with golden laces. Fugitoid told them that this was the king, himself.

The Skyrians were an odd-looking race. They were very tall, about seven feet in height, their skin was blue-grey, and they four long scrawny arms with four fingers on each hand. Their eyes were green with purple pupils, and they didn't have noses, ears, or mouths. Well, they did have mouths, actually. Two slits with teeth on both sides of their neck, which was really weird.

Fugitoid, the Turtles, April and Casey all stepped out of the ship and were greeted by the king, who took Fugitoid's hand and eagerly shook it.

"Ahh, Honeycutt!" he spoke through the slit in the right sight of his neck. "It's so good to see you again!"

"Your Highness," Fugitoid bowed to the king.

The Skyrian ruler looked over at the six strangers that stood behind the robot. "And are these your friends?"

"Yes," Fugitoid nodded. "Meet the Turtles and their two human allies. They are all from planet Earth." The six all respectfully bowed their heads to the king.

"Well, you are _all_ welcome here," the king said and gestured for them to follow. "Come. Let me show you to our resort while we refuel your ship."

As they followed him to a small cruiser, Fugitoid glanced back at the Turtles. "You'll just love their saunas and spas," he informed them.

Donnie's auburn eyes enlarged and a pleased smile was on his face. "Spas? Sounds good to me."

April closed her eyes and sighed happily, imagining herself in a hot bubbling tub.

"Forget the spas," Raph grumbled, stroking Chompy who was on his shoulder. "How about something to eat first? I'm starving!"

"Yeah, I'm with Raph!" Casey agreed, his stomach growling.

"Oh, yes," the king chuckled as they stepped into the cruiser. "We have excellent restaurants here. Our chefs are among the finest in the galaxy. You'll find our cuisines to be exquisite."

 _Says the guy who eats with his neck,_ Mikey thought as he sat down and buckled himself in.

"Well, not to sound like a total drag," Leo said, "but I'd prefer not to slack off and would rather train and prepare myself for another Triceratron attack."

"Well, you're in luck," the king responded with a smile. "We happened to have a gymnasium not too far from the resort, with a hologram simulation that allows you to train in the environment of your choice."

Leo was quite pleased this and smiled.

The king turned to Mikey as the cruiser took off. "And what about you, young man? Is there something you'd like to request?"

Mikey thought about it for a moment before he grinned widely. "Yeah, there is something."

...

"King says it's on him," Mikey informed the repair technician as he handed him the phone with the cracked screen. He was told that he had to wait an hour before he could pick up his phone and stepped out of the shop. There were so many other stores to shop at so he could easily pass the time. And the best part? It was all free! Being Fugitoid's friend did have its perks.

As he walked down the street and looked at his surroundings, taking in the beautiful sights, he failed to notice someone running directly toward him. He let out a pained grunt as the stranger suddenly rammed into him, the both of them falling to the ground.

After Mikey regained his senses, he turned around and to his surprise, an alien turtle humanoid was staring directly back at him. His skin was a moss green and he wore a tattered orange bandana over his mouth. His eyes were yellow-green and his shell was adorned with short spikes. He kind of reminded Mikey of Slash.

The turtle was carrying a large bag in his hands, and once he heard sirens going off in the distance, he suddenly threw it at Mikey and took off running before the young mutant could ask him a question. The bag was incredible heavy and he nearly fell backwards as it collided with his plastron. He opened it and there were many shiny purple rocks inside. They almost looked like...

Uh-oh.

Several floating robots zoomed down the street and surrounded Mikey, flashing their bright blue lights upon him. Mikey could feel himself being elevated and hovered in midair, unable to move his limbs.

 ** _You Are Under Arrest,_** one of the robots spoke through speakers.

He instantly knew that he was in _big_ trouble.

...

The whole crew, excluding Mikey, was summoned to the palace at once. The king sat on his throne, glaring at them furiously along with all the other Skyrians present.

"Is...there a problem, Your Highness?" Fugitoid nervously asked, never having seen the Skyrian ruler this mad before.

"Yeah, this better be important," Raph grumbled, not too happy about being dragged out of the restaurant in the middle of lunch.

"Don't play dumb with me!" the king roared, his outburst causing them all to jump. The mouth on the left side of his neck let out a terrifying hiss. "We let you use our fuel and eat our food for free, and this is how you repay us?!"

Leo lowered his brow in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Your orange friend tried to make off with some of the rocks from Mount Lorixia!"

"Orange friend?" April raised an eyebrow. "You mean Mikey?"

"You sure it was him?" Donnie questioned, finding it hard to believe that Mikey of all people would steal anything, let alone something as sacred as soul rocks.

"Our security drones caught him red handed," the king growled. "He had a bag full of rocks in his hands. And witnesses confirm that they saw a turtle creature wearing an orange cloth fleeing from the mountain with the same bag."

"Your Highness," Leo stepped forward, "there has to be a mistake. We know Mikey. He would never steal anything."

But the king would hear none of it and stood up from his throne, pointing an accusing finger at the crew. "I should have you _all_ arrested, but you happened to pull this off whilst I was in a good mood. You will take your fuel and leave as soon as possible."

"And what about Mikey?" Raph demanded. "We're not leaving without him!"

"He will pay for his crimes," the king hissed, narrowing his green eyes. "We could lock him up but even our prisons would be too good for a scumbag like him. So we're letting Nova Corps take care of it. He's their problem now."

At the mention of that name, Fugitoid became worried. "Oh, dear...not them."

"Wait, who are the Nova Corps?" Leo asked him, even more worried about his brother after seeing Fugitoid's reaction.

* * *

 _ **Nova Corps Headquarters**_

"Dudes, I'm telling you, I'm innocent!" Mikey yelled to the two men behind the screen that separated them. "I was framed!"

One of the men, Corpsman Dey, smirked and shook his head. "That's what they all say. You're gonna have to try harder than that." He looked down at his tablet and read the data they could find on the mutant Turtle. "Huh, well, according to our database, this kid has no criminal record," he informed the other guy, who was supposedly his superior. "But hey, first time for everything, right? Pretty much all we know is that he's from Terra-"

"Earth, actually," Mikey corrected.

Dey gave him a look before he continued. "-he's a mutant, half Turtle and half Terran, and he's a friend of Professor Zayton Honeycutt, also known as Fugitoid, from the planet D'Hoonib."

The other guy, Garthan Saal, nodded and crossed his arms against his chest. "Transport him to the Kyln."

Dey was surprised by this order and turned to look at him. "The Kyln? Don't you think that's a bit extreme? I mean, he is just a kid, no older than sixteen."

"The Skyrian monarch requested that we put him in the strictest prison facility in the entire galaxy," Saal said with little to no sympathy. "And I can understand why, 'cause what that Turtle did was a pretty dick move. Besides, our local cells are too crowded right now."

Mikey gulped nervously. "So, uh, what's the Kyln?"

Dey looked back at him and gave him a crooked smirk. "It ain't a kindergarten, I'll tell you that."

* * *

 _ **Back on Skyria**_

"We're going after Mikey, right?" Raph urgently asked Fugitoid as the Ulixes prepared to take off. "I mean, we're gonna get him out of jail?"

The robot fugitive turned to his friend and nodded. "Yes. We will travel to Xandar where the Nova Corps headquarters is located and directly approach the Nova Prime Irani Rael on this matter. I hear that she is quite reasonable and tends to be lenient toward juveniles. So she just might show Michelangelo mercy and let him go. I only hope that they haven't transported him to the Kyln."

"The Kyln?" Raph raised an eye ridge.

"Professor, what's the Kyln?" Donnie asked.

"It's an interstellar maximum security facility that houses only the worst of criminals in the entire galaxy. If our friend has, indeed, been transported there, then I fear that he won't last a day."

Leo stared blankly ahead through the window as the Ulixes soared into space once again. His hands slowly balled into fists at his sides as he narrowed his eyes in anger. "Well, if anyone there so much as touches him, they're gonna regret it," he said in a low, chilling voice.

* * *

 ** _The Kyln, High Security Prison_**

As soon as he arrived, Mikey was forced to strip and remove all of his gear and even his mask. He felt naked and attempted to cover himself. But then they hosed him with some kind of orange liquid and it stung like heck. This was just like what he saw in those prison movies. As soon as they were done spraying him, he curiously licked his drenched arm and instantly regretted it. He spat out the orange-colored water, but it definitely wasn't water. And it wasn't cheese, either, as he had hoped.

Although the yellow prison shirts couldn't fit him, the pants that came with them did, and a guard shoved a rolled up blanket into his arms as he walked out of the dressing room and into the central room of the prison, which was also the cafeteria. A great watch tower monitored the prisoners as they sat at the tables and walked about in the room. The guard walked him up the stairs and to his cell, and all the other prisoners looked at him with predatory smiles and grinned evilly at him. Mikey remembered from all those prison movies he watched that new arrivals are usually given horrible reception and even raped by the other prisoners.

He really hoped that his bros would hurry up and bust him out.

"Since we're a bit crowded," the guard said as he led Mikey to a cell, "you're gonna have to share a cell with someone." He then pushed Mikey in and the Turtle nearly tripped as he stumbled into his new room.

Another prisoner was already sitting on one of the beds and lifting weights with a dumbbell. He was very muscular and very large, and like Mikey, he wore only the prison pants. His skin was grey and his entire body, including his face, was covered with wicked-looking red tattoos.

Great. Of all the cellmates they stuck him with, it had to be _this_ guy. He'll eat him up for breakfast.

He stopped lifting the dumbbell for a moment to glance over at Mikey with his blue-grey eyes that instantly sent shivers down the Turtle's spine. Before Mikey could run, the door to the cell closed, and he was trapped with the scary man. He grinned and chuckled nervously.

"Um, hi," he squeaked as he waved at the man a little. "I'm, uh, Michelangelo, your new cellmate. But you can just call me Mikey." He politely offered the prisoner his hand to shake.

But he just stared coldly at Mikey, studying him over. "Drax," he simply said before he resumed his weight lifting.

Mikey awkwardly cleared his throat and backed away. "Drax, huh? Nice to meet you, Drax." He unfolded his blanket and placed in on the other bed, straightening it out a bit. He climbed onto the bed and sat on the edge, folding his hands together in a casual manner. For a while, it was awkwardly silent, save for Mikey's occasional lip-popping and coughs. Finally, Mikey spoke to break the tension.

"So, uh, what are you in for?"

Drax lifted his eyes up at Mikey for a brief moment before he looked back down at the floor. "Murder."

Mikey instantly got goose bumps. "M-Murder?" his voice cracked with fear. Drax nodded once, still focusing on the floor below him as he lifted weights. "How-How many people did you-did you murder?"

"I think about twenty-two. I lost count," he mumbled the last sentence.

The Turtle stared at him for a moment before he ran to the door and began to pound on it. "HEY! HEY, GUARD! GET ME OUTTA HERE! I DON'T WANT A MURDERER AS A CELLMATE! PLEASE! LET ME OUT-!"

"CEASE YOUR YELLING, STRANGE TURTLE CREATURE!" Drax roared and Mikey instantly stopped pounding and screaming. "Your loud, annoying voice hurts my ears," he lowered his voice but it was still stern.

Mikey nodded. "Sorry," he whispered as he walked back to his bed, lying down with his shell facing Drax and covering himself with the blanket so that the guy couldn't see the tears that were building up in his eyes. He hated acting weak, especially in front of strangers, but he was scared out of his mind. He was trapped with a serial killer in a prison that was probably a million miles from where his brothers were right now. He wanted his bros. He wanted Master Splinter.

Finally, a choked sob escaped his throat and he couldn't control his tears anymore.

"How old are you?" a soft voice made him jump before he realized that it was Drax's.

Sniffling and still covered with the blanket, Mikey answered, "F-Fifteen."

"You are so young," Drax sounded surprised. "What was your crime?"

"They think I stole a bunch of soul rocks from the Skyrians."

"And did you?"

"No. I keep telling everyone that I was framed, but nobody believes me."

Drax paused before he grunted. "I believe you."

Wiping his tears, Mikey finally turned around and peeked his head from under the blanket, looking directly over at Drax. "You do...?"

Drax smiled warmly at him and nodded. "Yes. You are clearly not the type who would commit such a heinous act. You are too much of a crybaby."

Mikey frowned and turned his shell back to Drax, very annoyed by that remark. "Gee, thanks," he deadpanned. But he smiled to himself as he slowly went to sleep, no longer feeling as scared. This Drax guy wasn't so bad after all.

 **What do you think so far?**


	2. Chapter 2

**NOTE: There will probably be grammar mistakes which I will fix later.**

"...Yeeeuck."

He had eaten and cooked some weird stuff over the years, but even he couldn't stomach this stuff.

A bunch of strange orange flatworms and yellow leech-like creatures wiggled around in the cylinders of his tray. His snout wrinkled in disgust and he looked up at the cook. "Uh, got any ketchup and mustard in this place?"

The scruffy-looking cook merely glared at him.

"No? How about some mayo?"

"MOVE IT, SQUIRT!" a large bulky alien yelled from behind him in line. Mikey squeaked and moved along, hurrying over to where Drax sat.

Ever since he arrived at the Kyln yesterday, Mikey stuck to Drax like glue, following him wherever he went. The other prisoners seemed to respect and even fear Drax, and nobody dared to sit at his table, except Mikey of course.

The Turtle sat down next to his cellmate and groaned as he picked at his squirming food with a fork. "April did say that cafeteria food sucks," he mumbled. "She wasn't kidding."

Drax smiled and ate his meal with no problems. "This is considered a delicacy where I come from."

"Well, good for you," Mikey sighed, pushing his tray over to Drax. "You can have mine." He leaned on the table and rested his chin in his folded arms. "I miss pizza. I miss Earth. And I miss my brothers."

"So you do have a family?" Drax asked, looking up at him from his tray.

Mikey somberly nodded. "Three bros and a Dad. Plus April and Casey. And a pet dairy feline and fire-breathing turtle."

Drax nodded, intrigued. "Do they know you are here?"

"Don't think so. 'Cause if they did, they would've busted me outta here by now. I hope they find me soon." He turned to Drax and smiled. "So what about you, Drax? You got a family, too?"

There was a flicker of what appeared to be sadness in Drax's blue eyes and he opened his mouth to speak when the whole cafeteria suddenly went into an uproar. Mikey turned around in his seat to see the prisoners pointing and throwing things at the new arrivals.

A normal-looking guy, possibly human, or at least Mikey hoped so; a hot green chick with purple highlights at the ends of her dark brown hair; a very tall, freaky-looking tree humanoid; and...a raccoon?

Mikey soon realized that everyone else was yelling death threats only at the green lady, and they called her names like "murderer!" and "scum!". He feared for her as they began to stalk and crowd her like a bunch of hungry wolves. And although he wanted to help her, he was completely outnumbered and was useless without his nunchucks.

He turned his attention back to the human, who was being confronted by a large blue dude. The alien said something to him as he began to caress his cheek in a creepy manner that made Mikey get the heebie jeebies just by watching. But then the tree thing walked up to him and stuck two fingers (or branches?) right up his nostrils, causing him to squeal in pain. He squealed even louder as the creature began to lift him from the ground by the nose.

Mikey winced as he watched. "Ouch."

The raccoon, who apparently was the tree's companion, began to talk to the crowd as he pointed to the human. "Let's make something clear! This one here's _our_ booty! You wanna get to him, you go through us! Or, more accurately..." He smiled devilishly. "...we go through _you_!"

The tree thing let go of the blue dude, who curled up on the floor and held his nose, sobbing like a little girl. The other prisoners got the message and dispersed as the raccoon and his friend continued on their way.

The human whom they were protecting smiled and nodded. "I'm with them," he said as he stepped over the blue alien and followed after them.

Mikey smiled impressively. It was their first day in prison and they've already established themselves as the top dogs. If he were to make friends with those guys, he just might last long enough for his brothers to come and rescue him. "Yo, Drax, I'm gonna go meet with those dudes and-"

When he turned to look at Drax, he noticed that his cellmate was staring up at something intensely. He followed his gaze and saw that green lady sitting alone in her cell. The other prisoners banged on her door and continue to hurl death threats at her.

"Geez," Mikey muttered and shook his head. "Wondered what she did to cause all this fuss?"

Drax still didn't answer him and continued to stare. For some reason, Mikey felt a shiver down his spine and the urge to leave the table immediately.

"Well, uh, okay," Mikey chuckled nervously as he got up. "I guess I'll see you later tonight?" When Drax still didn't acknowledge him, he left the table to search for the new guys.

...

He peeked from behind a corner and watched the tree thing and his raccoon friend settling down in their new cell, which was a lot bigger than his own but was also very crowded. At least he and Drax had some privacy and room to themselves. These guys were all pretty much crammed in.

He took a deep breath and approached the two with a wide grin. "Hey, dudes!"

They both turned around at the sound of his voice. The raccoon narrowed his brown eyes and snarled at him, obviously not the trusting type, while the tree merely stared at him with curious dark eyes that had some gentleness in them.

"What do you want, twerp?" the raccoon growled.

Mikey's smile did not falter. "I just want to make some new friends while I'm stuck here."

The raccoon scoffed and shook his head. "'Make some new friends'? What do you think this is, a playground? Get lost, squirt."

The tree thing approached Mikey and towered over him, making the Turtle very nervous. But there was a warm smile on its face. "I Am Groot," it said in a deep voice and extended its hand out to him.

The fear instantly left and Mikey took the tree's hand. "Groot, huh? Nice to meet you, Groot! I'm Mikey!"

"I Am Groot," the creature repeated.

"Heh, yeah, I got that," Mikey let go of Groot's hand and walked over to the raccoon. "And what's your name?" He offered his hand for a shake.

But then the small animal suddenly nipped at Mikey's hand, causing the Turtle to yelp and flinch away. "My name is None-Of-Your-Beeswax-And-You'd-Better-Scram-Or-Else-I'll-Kick-Your-Ass."

Mikey blinked a few times then frowned. "Huh. That's a mouthful. How about I just call you 'Ass' for short?"

The raccoon's fur puffed up a little and his tail started to twitch. "Oh, a wise-guy, are ya?" He cracked his neck back and forth and stomped toward the Turtle with a raised fist, but then Groot blocked his path with his arm.

"I Am Groot," he said in a scolding tone.

"Be nice?" the raccoon asked him incredulously. "Why? He started it by being a smartass."

"I started it?" Mikey pointed an accusing finger at him. "You started it, dude!"

"Point your finger at me like that again, _dude_ , and I'll bite it off!" the raccoon threatened.

"Hey, guys, come on," the human from earlier approached them. "Let's play nice." He had piercing blue eyes and short wavy brown hair. He smirked at Mikey and shook his hand. "Hey. Sorry about Rocket. I'm Peter Quill."

Mikey smiled and nodded. "Michelangelo, or Mikey for short. Hey, are you from Earth, too?"

Quill looked at him surprised and released his hand. "Wait...you mean to say that _you're_ from Earth? 'Cause last time I checked, Earth turtles were a lot smaller. And they didn't talk."

"Yep. I guess you can say that I'm part human, part Turtle. I'm a mutant, dude."

"Mutant?" Rocket cocked his head. "What mad scientist made you?"

"We weren't made in a lab. My bros and I used to be normal Turtles until we accidentally got covered in this alien goo."

Quill raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "Alien goo? Sounds like something out of a Marvel comic book."

Mikey chuckled too. He already liked this Quill guy.

...

Later that day, the four of them all sat at a table together in the cafeteria, getting to know each other more and discussing their backstories.

"So you're an experiment?" Mikey asked Rocket. "And you just happen to look like a raccoon?"

"I dunno what a raccoon is," Rocket mumbled angrily, tapping his claws on the table. "But yeah, I was made by a bunch of scientist who just loved to torture creatures smaller than themselves and turn them into freaks. One day I escaped and met Groot soon after that."

"I Am Groot," Groot said with a nod.

"Yeah, dude, I know," Mikey said a bit exasperatedly. "You told me that already...about fifty times."

"Get used to it," Quill told him. "That's how he talks."

Mikey looked over at Groot. "Huh? You mean, that's his language?"

Quill nodded. "Pretty much."

"Whoa. Hey, can you guys teach me how to speak Groot? I've always wanted to learn a third language. That way I can throw insults at Raph and he wouldn't understand me," Mikey chuckled at the last sentence.

"It's not something you can learn in a few days or even months," Rocket informed him. "It took me years to finally understand what he was saying."

Groot nodded again. "I Am Groot."

"So what are you in for?" Quill asked Mikey.

Mikey sighed, reminded once again of the predicament that he was currently in. "They think I stole a bunch of soul rocks from the Skyrians."

"What?!" Rocket was now laughing hysterically. " _You_? Stealing soul rocks from the Skyrians? That's a good one!"

"It's true!" Mikey insisted before quickly correcting himself. "I-I mean, it's not true that I did it, but they-"

"Dude, that's like stealing from a church!" Quill said, both shocked and appalled by this revelation.

"But I didn't do it! I was framed!"

"Now _that_ I believe," Rocket chuckled. "'Cause there's no way someone like you could have the balls to pull a stunt like that."

Mikey didn't know whether or not to feel insulted by Rocket's remark. "Um, okay, well, at least you guys believe me. The cops sure didn't."

A loud alarm suddenly blared in the cafeteria and the guards began to escort the prisoners back to their cells. One approached their table. "All of you return to your cells at once," he ordered. "It's bedtime, kiddies."

Mikey got up from his seat and looked at his new friends. "So...see you guys tomorrow morning?"

Quill smiled and nodded as he left. Rocket only grumbled something under his breath and scratched his behind as he followed Quill. Groot stayed behind for a moment to smile down at Mikey.

"I Am Groot," he said.

"Is that Groot talk for 'goodnight'?" Mikey asked.

Groot nodded in reply.

"Well, in that case...I Am Groot!" Mikey waved at him as he walked away.

...

"Yo, Drax! Guess what? I just made friends with those new guys and they- Drax?"

When Mikey stepped inside his cell, he noticed that Drax wasn't back yet. Shrugging it off, he crawled into his bed and pulled the blanket over him, eager for morning to come. His stay at the Kyln was a little bit more pleasant now that he had new friends.

...

He woke up in the middle of the night and felt the need to tinkle. He sat up in his bed and was surprised to see that Drax's was still empty. "Huh, maybe he had to go, too," he figured.

...

After he lost some weight in one of the bathroom stalls and washed up, he started to head back to his cell when he heard a familiar voice bellowing from the showers.

"You _dare_?!"

Mikey's head whipped in the direction of the voice. "Drax?" He hurried to the showers and was shocked to see Drax confronting a small group of men who were cornering the green lady and holding a knife to her throat. At first, Mikey thought that Drax was coming to her aid and stood back.

"You know who I am, yes?" Drax asked the men as he slowly stomped over to them.

A bald guy with pointy ears and red eyes nodded as he nervously backed away. "You're Drax. The Destroyer."

"And you know why they call me this."

"You slayed dozens of Ronan's minions."

"Ronan murdered my wife, Ovette, and my daughter, Camaria," Drax's voice wavered with emotion as he spoke.

Mikey's eyes widened. Drax's family was murdered?

Drax's hands balled into fists, which trembled with growing rage. "He slaughtered them where they stood...and he _LAUGHED_!" he suddenly roared in the bald guy's face. He lowered his tone but it was filled with so much venom and anger. "Her life...is not yours to take."

Mikey's heart dropped as he realized that Drax wasn't there to help the green lady; he was going to kill her.

Drax looked directly at her with cold eyes. "He killed my family. I shall kill one of his in return."

The bald guy nodded and handed him his knife. "Of course, Drax. Here."

Suddenly the green woman used her incredible reflexes to swiftly knock down the two prisoners who were holding her and steal their knifes, placing them at the throats of Drax and the bald guy.

Mikey almost whistled impressively but held it in. She moved like a ninja.

"I am no family to Ronan or Thanos," she sternly said. She slowly backed away and dropped the knives. "I'm your only hope at stopping him."

But Drax would hear none of it and immediately grabbed her by the throat. He pushed her against the wall and pointed his knife at her neck. "Woman, your words mean nothing to me!"

Mikey opened his mouth to yell at Drax to stop but someone beat him to it.

"Hey! Hey, hey, hey, hey!"

He turned to see Quill running toward them, waving his hands around frantically. "Quill?"

Everyone turned around after Mikey finally spoke up and all eyes were on him.

"Heh, um, hi," Mikey smiled and waved sheepishly.

Drax frowned and glared at him. "Go back to the cell, Michelangelo." He turned his attention back to the lady and raised the knife again. "I do not want you to see all the blood."

But Mikey refused to budge and shook his head. "No. No, Drax. I can't let you do this. This is crazy!"

"Yeah, yeah, he's right," Quill agreed. "You know, if killing Ronan is truly your sole purpose, I don't think this is the best way to go about it."

Drax looked back at Quill. "Are you not the man this wench attempted to kill?"

"Well, I mean, she's hardly the first woman to try and do that to me," he joked as he gestured to the green lady. He suddenly lifted his shirt to reveal a small scar on his left side. "Look, this is from a smoking-hot Rajak girl. Stabbed me with a fork. Didn't like me skipping out on her at sunrise." He then pulled the collar of his shirt down to reveal a scar that ran down his right shoulder blade. "I got, right here, a Kree girl tried to rip out my thorax. She caught me with this skinny A'askavariian..."

As Quill continued to ramble about his past flings, Mikey groaned and rolled his eyes. And judging by the bored expression on Drax's face, he was getting tired of hearing this, too.

Quill was still going on about that A'aska-whatever-it-was. "If you think I'm seriously interested in that, then-"

"Dude!" Mikey interrupted him. "Why are we still talking about this?!"

Quill quickly shut up and nodded. "Right. You don't care. But here's the point. She betrayed Ronan. He's coming back for her. And when he does, that's when you..." He did the cutthroat gesture.

Drax looked at him confused, tilting his head a bit. "Why would I put my finger at his throat?"

Mikey facepalmed. Was he being serious right now? "No, dude. He didn't mean that literally."

"Yeah, it's a symbol," Quill repeated the gesture. "This is a symbol for your slicing his throat."

Drax still wasn't getting it. "I would not slice his throat. I would cut his head clean off."

"It's a general expression for you killing somebody," Quill explained. "What I'm saying is, you want to keep her alive. Don't do his work for him."

Drax considered this for a moment, glaring at the woman in his grasp, before he finally released her. He studied the knife in his hand and walked off with it. "I like your knife," he told the bald guy. "I'm keeping it." He brushed past Mikey, never even looking his way.

Mikey watched Quill help the woman to her feet, and the human flashed him a grateful smile as he left with her.

...

"Drax, what was that all about?" Mikey asked him as they stepped back into their cell. The tattooed man said nothing as he climbed back into his bed. Drax's silence made him uncomfortable. "Are...are you mad at me or something?"

Drax glanced over at him with a look in his eyes that a sent a shiver down the Turtle's spine. "If you ever meddle in my personal affairs again," he said in a low yet threatening voice, "I will rip you right out of your shell."

Mikey gulped and hugged his knees close to his chest as he stared at Drax in fear. "Look, I'm sorry, but...but I couldn't just stand by and watch you kill that lady. I mean, I-I don't know anything about your past, but I do know this: revenge won't make things any better. My Dad once said that revenge only leads to more pain."

Drax didn't look at him and stared at the wall instead. "Pain? You do not know what true pain is. You have never watched a loved one get slaughtered before your very eyes."

Mikey looked at him with sad blue eyes. Drax didn't know just how wrong he was. They both knew how it felt to watch someone they loved die in front of them. "Drax, come on. Talk to me, dude. We're friends, remember?"

Drax shook his head and rested his head on his pillow with his back turned to Mikey. "We may be cellmates, but we are not friends," he coldly stated.

Those words stabbed at Mikey's heart and he let out a pained, shaky sigh as he lay back down and drifted off to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**NOTE: There will probably be grammar mistakes which I will fix later.**

The next morning, Mikey waited eagerly for his new friends to come down to the cafeteria for breakfast, though he wouldn't sit at Drax's table. Since the confrontation that took place in the showers last night, things had been...tense between him and Drax, and his cellmate had been giving him the cold shoulder lately.

He smiled excitedly when the guys and the green lady went down the stairs and ran up to meet them. "Morning, dudes!"

Quill smiled and gave Mikey a friendly pat on the shell. "Hey, morning, little buddy." He turned to the green woman behind. "Mikey, this is Gamora. Gamora, this is Mikey."

Gamora smiled softly at Mikey and shook his hand. "Hello, Mikey. I want to thank you for coming to my aid last night."

"Heh, yeah, well," Mikey awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, "sorry about my cellmate's rude behavior last night. He was totally out of control."

"Hard to believe that meathead is your roommate," Rocket mumbled, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"Drax isn't all bad. He's just...you know...sad and angry," Mikey said with sympathy. "I get where he's coming from."

"I Am Groot," Groot said to Rocket, who looked up at him in surprise.

"Let him in on the...? Oh, no!" the raccoon shook his head. "We got enough problems of our own! We ain't letting some lost kid tag along! 'Sides I'm not splitting the money with one more person!"

"He stopped that brute from tearing me apart," Gamora argued. "We owe him this much."

"Yeah, plus he's got a family to get back to," Quill said. "We can't just leave him here."

Mikey tilted his head in confusion. "Wait, what are you guys talking about?"

Quill glanced around the cafeteria cautiously before he looked at Mikey. "We're thinking up an escape plan," he quietly said.

Mikey instantly perked up and his eyes sparkled. "Really?!" he shouted.

Rocket harshly shushed him. "Shhh! Don't bring the attention of the entire frickin' prison to ourselves, moron."

The Turtle smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. So what's the plan?"

Rocket sighed and muttered something under his breath as they headed to the bar and picked up their trays of food. "If we're gonna get out of here, we're gonna need to get into that watchtower. And to do that, I'm gonna need a few things. The guards wear security bands to control their ins and outs. I need one."

Gamora nodded, eyeing a particular guard on a balcony. "Leave it to me."

A scrawny bald prisoner with a prosthetic leg limped pass the group and Rocket pointed to him. "That dude, there. I need his prosthetic leg."

Quill raised an eyebrow. "His leg?"

"Yeah. God knows I don't need the rest of him. Look at him, he's useless."

"...All right."

"And finally, on the wall back there is a black panel," Rocket pointed to the base of the watchtower. "Blinky yellow light. Do you see it?"

As they sat down at a table, they looked for the yellow light that Rocket was referring to and quickly spotted it. "Yeah," Quill said with a nod.

"There's a quarnyx battery behind it. Purplish box, green wires. To get into that watchtower, I definitely need it."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Gamora asked him.

As the rest of the group discussed the plan to get the battery, Mikey noticed that Groot was walking toward the watchtower and stretched his legs to make himself taller. He grinned and mentally rooted for the walking tree. Getting that battery was gonna be a piece of cake.

Just then Drax appeared and watched as Groot ripped the panel off the wall and tossed it aside, accidentally hitting a prisoner in the head with it. He slowly turned to Mikey for an explanation, and the Turtle pressed his finger to his lips, silently telling him not to make a scene.

Groot grabbed the battery and began to pull at it, stretching out the green wires that attached it to the wall.

"...everything is gonna slam into emergency mode," Mikey heard Rocket say, though he still focused on Groot. "Once we have it, we gotta move quickly, so you definitely need to get that _last_."

Mikey's eyes widened and he turned back to Rocket. "Wait, we need to get the battery _last_?"

"Yeah, that's what I just said," Rocket told him.

"...Uh-oh."

"'Uh-oh'? What-What does that-?"

The moment Groot tore the battery off the wall, most of the lights went out and the alarms blared. All of the other prisoners started to scramble in confusion, while Groot just stood there and showed his friends the battery in his hand with a proud smile.

Rocket rolled his eyes. "Or we could just get it first and improvise."

"I'll get the armband," Gamora said before she bolted from the table.

"Leg," Quill went in the opposite direction.

Rocket and Mikey were left at the table, and the raccoon groaned as he rubbed his temples. The Turtle chuckled nervously and got up. "My bad. I'm gonna go help Groot." He darted from the table and toward Groot, who looked at him with a confused expression. "We just made a huge mistake, tree-bro."

Groot tilted his head. "I Am Groot?"

Mikey nodded. "Yeah. We were supposed to wait and get the battery last."

Just then the security droids dashed into the cafeteria and surrounded the two, pulling out their guns. Mikey instinctively clutched onto Groot and gulped. Groot looked down at the young Turtle and could sense his growing fear. A protective instinct kicked in and he bravely faced the droids, branches sprouting from his back.

 _"Prisoners,"_ the guard in the watchtower spoke to them through the speakers, _"drop the device immediately and retreat to your cells or we will open fire."_

Groot made himself taller and larger as even more branches grew from out of his body, which gave him an intimidating appearance. He stood protectively in front of Mikey and puffed out his chest. "I...AM... _GROOOOOOOOT_!" he roared defiantly.

 _"Fire!"_

Immediately, the droids fired their guns at Groot and Mikey ducked, shielding his head with his arms. Groot grunted as his body was riddled with bullets but he didn't feel any pain at all. In fact, for him, it could be compared to mosquito bites. He whacked a droid away then another.

Mikey decided to help Groot fight them off and jumped onto a droid, which started to spin round and round in confusion. He jumped off right before it smashed into the wall and exploded. With his trademark battlecry, he leapt high into the air and kicked a couple of droids. Whenever they fired at him, he'd quickly dodge the bullets and roll away, ducking behind the nearest table.

At one point he ran straight into a droid, which pointed its guns at him. But before it could fire, Drax grabbed it from behind and smashed it with his bare hands.

"Drax!" Mikey smiled widely at his cellmate. "Man, am I glad to see you, dude- DUCK!"

Drax quickly obeyed and Mikey leapt right over his head, high-kicking another droid. Several guards charged right at them, and the warrior and the ninja fought side-by-side, taking them down one by one. Mikey grinned during the entire battle. It felt so good to kick butt again, especially with a pal.

"You fight impressively!" Drax yelled to him, head-butting a guard and knocking him out.

The Turtle blushed a little, flattered by that compliment. "Thanks!"

"Move to the watchtower!" he heard Rocket yell. He turned around and saw the raccoon riding on top of Groot, who was walking toward the watchtower. Groot stretched himself again, both elevating Rocket and providing ladders for the others.

"Drax, let's go!" Mikey motioned for him to follow as he climbed up one of Groot's legs to the watchtower. Gamora and Rocket helped him onboard with Quill following close behind and they all marched into the control room, where the unsuspecting guard slowly turned around in his chair and put his hands up in surrender.

Groot suddenly grabbed the guard with his vines and threw him out of the watchtower. The poor guy screamed as he fell and a sickening thud was heard, indicating that he hit the floor. Mikey stared at Groot in shock with his mouth agape.

"Eh, he'll be fine," Rocket told him with a shrug as he climbed into the main chair.

Just then Drax stepped into the room, and while Mikey was glad to see him, Gamora was rather displeased. Drax didn't like the way Gamora was looking at him. "Spare me your foul gaze, woman!" he barked.

Gamora turned to Quill. "Why is this one here?" she demanded.

"We promised him he could stay by your side until he kills your boss," Quill explained. "I always keep my promises when they're to muscle-bound whack-jobs who will kill me if I don't. Here you go," he handed Rocket the prosthetic leg.

Rocket looked at the leg and started to chuckle. "Oh, I was just kidding about the leg."

Quill was outraged. "What?!"

"No, I thought it'd be funny. Was it funny? Oh, wait, what did he look like hopping around?"

"I had to transfer him 30,000 units!"

Rocket only shook his head and snickered.

"Dude, you're such a troll," Mikey said but he was smiling.

Drax looked at him weird. "A troll? He looks more like a rat than a troll." He glanced at the droids that surrounded the watchtower outside. "How are we going to leave?"

Just then a droid opened fire at one of the windows, but thankfully the glass was bulletproof. Quill flinched at the sound and sparks. "Well, he's got a plan." He turned to Rocket, who was pushing some buttons. " _Right?_ Or is that another thing you made up?"

"I have a plan! I have a plan!" Rocket told him as he continued to work.

"Cease your yammering and relieve us from this irksome confinement," Drax gruffly said.

"Yeah, I'll have to agree with the walking thesaurus on that one," Quill mumbled.

Drax looked at him offended. "Do not ever call me a thesaurus," he growled.

"It's just a metaphor, dude," Quill tried to explain.

"His people are completely literal," Rocket informed him. "Metaphors are gonna go over his head."

"Nothing goes over my head," Drax proclaimed proudly. "My reflexes are too fast. I would catch it.'

Mikey spotted something familiar sticking under the desk and picked it off. In between his thumb and finger was a lump of used gum. "Aw, sweet! They got gum in here!" To Quill's shock and disgust, the Turtle plopped it into his mouth.

"Aw, dude!" the human looked away and tried not to gag. "Seriously?!"

"What?" Mikey questioned, making gross smacking sounds as he chewed.

Gamora shook her head and mumbled, "I'm gonna die surrounded by the biggest idiots in the galaxy."

Meanwhile, more Nova guards appeared with large guns in their arms. They all aimed at at the watchtower and prepared to fire.

Quill gulped. "Those are some big guns."

The head riot guard stood by and barked orders to his men. "ON MY COMMAND! NUMBER ONE!" A guard fired a single shot, which actually left a large crack in one of the windows.

The fugitives knew that they were running out of time.

"Rodent, we are ready for your plan," Gamora urgently told Rocket.

"Hold on!" the raccoon snapped, trying his best to stay calm as he worked with the computers.

"NUMBER TWO!"

 _BOOM!_

A blast hit the window next to Quill, who could feel the heat of the explosion even from behind the glass.

"I recognize this animal," Drax said, referring to Rocket. "We'd roast him over a flame pit as children. Their flesh was quite delicious."

"NOT HELPING!" Rocket screamed, glaring back at him.

"NUMBER THREE!"

The next blast left an even bigger crack, which began to expand and a single chip of glass popped off.

"Rocket..." Mikey whimpered.

"ALL FIRE ON MY COMMAND!" the head riot guard began to count down. "THREE!"

Rocket grunted as he pulled a few wires from out of a panel.

"TWO!"

Everyone in the watchtower braced themselves, including Mikey, who began to pull his head back into his shell.

"ONE!"

Just as the head guard finished counting, Rocket connected two wires and loud whirring sound followed. All of the guards outside suddenly started to float and lost their grip on their weapons. Even the prisoners, who had been confined to their cells, were lifted off their feet and floated around like goldfish in a bowl.

Only Mikey and the others in the watchtower were unaffected. "Whoa, what'd you just do?" the Turtle whispered in amazement.

"He turned off the artificial gravity," Gamora grinned, impressed by the raccon's genius. "Everywhere but in here."

Rocket pulled on a lever, and the entire watchtower disconnected itself from the base, floating towards the ceiling. He punched in some codes on the computer and all of the security droids gathered around and connected themselves to the watchtower, flying it out of the cafeteria.

"I told you I had a plan," Rocket smugly stated.

A guard smashed into the front window like a bug as they headed for one of the corridors, groaning as he slowly slid off.

"This thing come with wipers?" Mikey joked, still chewing on his gum.

The watchtower made it into the narrow passageway but roughly bumped against the walls, and everyone inside was nearly tossed around and had to hold onto to something. When they finally came to a complete stop, Rocket pressed a button to lock the doors of corridor shut.

"That was a pretty good plan," Quill told Rocket, then he heard Mikey groaning. He turned to see the Turtle sticking his tongue out and holding his stomach. "What's up with you?"

"I just swallowed my gum," Mikey told him.

* * *

Everyone quickly gathered up their clothes and personal belongings that had been stored away. Mikey found the chest that contained his stuff and smiled in satisfaction as he held his good old nunchucks and fondly kissed them. "Oh, I missed you guys." He took off his yellow pants and put his gear, belt, and orange mask back on.

"Wait," Rocket stared at him as he got dressed in his casual outfit. "You mean you don't wear any pants at all? You just walk around naked like that?"

"Don't need any pants, dude," Mikey told him with a shrug. "'Cause I don't need any pockets. The belt is all I need to carry my stuff with." He patted the nunchucks that were tucked into his belt.

The raccoon scoffed and shook his head. "And people think _I'm_ an animal," he muttered.

Then Mikey turned to see Quill saying something to Gamora before hurrying out of the room. "Hey, wait, where's _he_ going?" he asked her.

Gamora sighed heavily and grabbed her stuff. "He went to go retrieve something. We need to hurry to his ship. Go!"

...

Quill's ship, the Milano, was a pretty cool ship. Not as awesome as the Ulixes, but still pretty cool. They were already outside the Kyln waiting for Quill to return, but Rocket, who was piloting the ship, was growing restless and impatient.

"Well, how's he gonna get to us?!" he asked Gamora.

"He declined to share that information with me," she said.

"Well, screw this then! I ain't waiting around for some humie with a death wish."

"Hey, hold up!" Mikey ran up to Rocket's chair and shook it. "We can't just leave him! Let's give him five more minutes!"

"We ain't got five more minutes! It's either him or us!" Rocket looked behind him at Gamora. "You have the Orb, right?"

"Yes," Gamora picked up her bag and searched for something in it.

"Orb?" Mikey raised an eye ridge. "What Orb?"

But Gamora never answered him and seemed distressed when she couldn't find what she was looking for. She tossed the bag aside in frustration. "He has it with him."

" _What?!_ " Rocket shouted angrily before he kicked the control console. "Sh**!"

Mikey scratched his head in confusion and looked between Gamora and Rocket. "So, uh, I guess this means we'll have to wait for Quill anyway?"

"No, we can't wait!" Rocket snapped. "If we don't leave now, we _will_ be blown to bits!"

"NO!" Gamora shouted. "We're not leaving without the Orb!"

Just then Drax, who was sitting in the chair opposite to Rocket's, spotted something outside his window. "Behold!" he said, catching the others' attention.

Flying straight toward them in his rockets boots was Quill, himself, now dressed in a red jacket and wearing some kind of really cool breathing mask over his face.

Mikey smiled widely and pressed his hands against the window. "He made it!"

...

Gamora, Mikey, and Drax all greeted Quill as he climbed back into the ship through an airlock.

"This one shows spirit," Drax praised him as he helped him in. "He shall make a keen ally in the battle against Ronan. Companion, what were you retrieving?"

"Yeah, dude," Mikey joined in, beaming up at his human friend. "Show us!"

Quill handed Mikey something before walking off. The Turtle studied the object in his hands and realized that it was just a simple old-fashioned Walkman. He looked over at Quill in total disbelief. "Seriously, dude? A _Walkman_? These things are totally outdated."

"Tell me, what is this 'Walkman'?" Drax asked Mikey. "Is it a weapon? One that could be used against Ronan?"

"No way, dude," Mikey handed the cassette player over to him. "You just listen to music with it."

Drax stared down at the Walkman then up at Quill, who just shrugged his shoulders. "You're an imbecile."

...

After using the ship's restroom, Mikey could hear Rocket and Quill arguing in the common area and stepped inside. Quill was standing over Rocket, who sitting on the floor amongst all kinds of gadgets. Gamora was casually leaning against the wall while Drax sat on a cushioned bench, polishing a knife.

"That's for if things get _really_ hardcore," Rocket said to Quill with a mischievous grin as he pointed to a large device. "Or if you wanna blow up moons."

"Huh?" Mikey's eyes bugged out. "We're blowing up moons now?"

"No one's blowing up moons," Gamora told both him and Rocket.

"You just wanna suck the joy out of everything," Rocket glumly mumbled as he tinkered with his gadgets.

"You got issues, man," Mikey told the tigger-happy raccoon.

"Yeah? Well, at least I don't run around naked and eat someone else's used gum," Rocket sassed.

Mikey pouted and stuck his tongue out at him.

Quill walked over to a large screen and punched in some numbers. "So, listen," he glanced over at Gamora, "I'm gonna need your buyer's coordinates."

"We're heading in the right direction," Gamora held what appeared to be the Orb in her hand, "for now."

Quill turned to face her and crossed his arms. "If we're gonna work together, you might want to try trusting me a little bit."

"And how much do you trust _me_?"

He snatched the Orb out of her hand. "I'd trust you a lot more if you told me what this was. Because I'm guessing it's some kind of weapon." He then placed it on the table.

Gamora glanced to the side. "I don't know what it is."

"Wait," Mikey walked over to the table and poked at the strange ball. "You mean you don't even know what's inside? What if it's an egg and you're stealing it from some ginormous mama-monster?" He gulped, remembering the last time he and his bros unwittingly stole an egg on some strange planet.

"If it's a weapon," Drax picked up the Orb, "we should use it against Ronan."

Gamora immediately confronted him. "Put it down, you fool! You'll destroy us all."

"Or just _you_ , murderess!" Drax spat.

Mikey rolled his eyes and groaned. "Here we go again."

"I let you live _once_ , princess!" Gamora was now nearly nose to nose with Drax.

"I AM _NOT_ A PRINCESS!" Drax yelled angrily.

Thankfully, Quill broke them up before things got ugly again. "HEY! NOBODY! Is killing anybody on my ship! We're stuck together until we get the money."

"I have no interest in money," Drax growled, handing the Orb back to Quill before he walked out of the room.

"Right," Mikey sighed, watching him leave. "'Cause all he wants is to kill this Ronan guy. But I'm with him; I don't care about the money. I just wanna find my bros so that we can get back to Earth as soon as possible."

Gamora approached him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "We know. And as soon as we deliver the Orb, we'll help you find them."

"Hey, speak for yourself!" Rocket said. "As soon as Groot and I get our share, we're heading straight for Contraxia to get ourselves a little action." He glanced over at Mikey and winked. "Heh. If you know what I mean."

"Yeah, and as much as I _really_ want to help you," Quill flashed a sympathetic grin, "I'm already having to deal with the Ravagers chasing after me. So...can't help you either. But, if it'll make you feel better, we can give you your share so that you can buy a ship."

"Dude, I don't even know _how_ to fly a ship," Mikey mumbled sadly, looking down at his feet.

"Don't worry," Gamora softly said. " _I'll_ help you find your family if _they_ won't." She casted a nasty dirty at Quill before she gave Mikey a pat on the shell. "Go get some rest. I'll tell the buyer we're on our way. And Quill...your ship is filthy."

Mikey chuckled as Gamora went up the stairs. "She totally sounds like a Mom. If she only saw _my_ room."

"Oh, yeah?" Quill smirked. "If I had a black light, this place would look like a Jackson Pollock painting."

Mikey, being the innocent and slightly naive Turtle that he was, didn't get Quill's perverted joke and looked at him confused.

But Rocket did, and the raccoon looked at the human in disgust and shook his head. "You got issues, Quill."

...

Mikey groaned as he tossed and turned in Quill's bunk. He couldn't get himself comfortable and he was extremely exhausted from all the action at the Kyln.

Just then he heard heavy footsteps and flipped over to see Goot standing next to him.

"Oh, hey, Groot," Mikey greeted him with a tired smile and a yawn.

Groot noticed the dark circles under Mikey's eyes and became worried. "I Am Groot?"

"Yeah, I can't sleep," Mikey laid his head back down on the pillow. "This bunk is too hard."

Groot pondered for a moment before he got an idea and extended his arms into vines, attaching them to the ceiling and walls. Mikey watched in awe as his tree friend made a huge nest with a bed made out of green leaves.

He then picked Mikey up and helped him into the nest. When the Turtle laid himself down on the leaves, he sighed blissfully at the cushion they provided. "Yeah, this is more like it," he whispered as he closed his eyes. "Thanks, Groot."

As Mikey went to sleep, Groot sat down on a bunk and kept watch. He smiled fondly at the young Turtle, having grown attached to him.

Just then Quill walked in and his jaw dropped at what Groot had done to his personal sleeping area. "Dude! What did you to my-?!"

"Shh," Groot shushed him, pointing to the now sleeping Mikey, who nuzzled the soft leaves with a blissful smile on his face.

Quill sighed softly and walked away. The sooner they deliver the Orb, the better.


	4. Chapter 4

**Another chapter already? I am on a roll! LOL! But I am watching the movie as I'm writing so I'm updating much faster.**

 **NOTE: There will probably be grammar mistakes which I will fix later.**

 ** _Nova Headquarters_**

"Excuse me, Nova Prime?"

The commander of the Nova Corps, Irani Rae, was in the middle of a conservation with a green-skinned ambassador on screen when she was approached by two assistants. "What?" she sternly asked. "This better be important."

"Sorry to interrupt you, ma'am," the woman apologized, "but Zayton Honeycutt is here."

This caught the Nova Prime's attention. "Honeycutt? You mean, Fugitoid?"

"Yes, ma'am," the man nodded. "He insists that it's of great importance that you talk with him. Now."

Irani thought about this for a moment before she turned back to the ambassador. "Excuse me, Drey'Nar. It won't be but for a moment."

She followed the assistants into another room, where Fugitoid and the rest of the Ulixes crew sat in chairs. The robot immediately stood up and rushed to greet the Nova commander. "Ah, Nova Prime Irani Rae, it's a pleasure to meet-"

"Fugitoid," she glared at him. "You got a lot of nerve coming here to _my_ headquarters and interrupting _my_ business."

"I-I do apologize-"

"Who did you manage to piss off this time? Huh? Because I'm not cleaning up any more of _your_ messes."

Fugitoid chuckled nervously. "Well, you-you see, ma'am, one of our friends has been wrongfully incarcerated for a crime he did not commit. The fellow goes by the name of Michelangelo."

"Oh, really? We'll see about that." Irani pulled a small tablet from out of her pocket and looked up the name, scrolling down the screen with her finger. "Michelangelo...Michelan-ah, here we go. Hamato Michelangelo. Half Terran, half Turtle mutant. Arrested for attempted robbery on planet Skyria."

"Yes!" Leo stood up from his chair and stood next to Fugitoid. "Yes, that's our brother! Look, he didn't steal anything. This was all a big misunderstanding."

"So what do you want me to do about it?" Irani sighed, rubbing her temples.

"Well, we were hoping that you would authorize his release," Fugitoid said.

"And yet you have no proof of his innocence?"

"Well, um...no, actually."

She shook her head. "Then I'm afraid I can't help you."

Leo stepped forward. "Ma'am, please-"

" _Unless_ ," she held up a hand and interrupted him, "you turn in the real culprit or bring me any evidence backing your claim, Michelangelo is to stay where he is."

"WHAT?!" Now Raph was furious and had to be held back by Donnie and April. "How the heck are we supposed to find this guy?!"

"You figure it out," Irani told him before she turned and walked out of the room.

Leo sighed heavily and covered his face with his hand. "Great," he muttered. "Just great."

"So we need to go find this imposter," April said, having finally calmed Raph down. "At least we have a physical description of him from the Skyrians."

"Yeah, he couldn't have gone far," Casey said with some optimism.

Donnie gave him a weird look. "Uh, he can go _very_ far, Jones. We're talking about the entire _freaking universe_ here!"

"Enough," Leo ordered. "We're just wasting time. The sooner we find this guy, the sooner we can get Mikey out of jail. I just hope that he's okay."

* * *

 _I'm an alligator_

 _I'm a mama-papa coming for you_

 _I'm a space invader_

"...uh...?" Mikey fluttered his eyelids open as he woke up to what sounded like 70's rock music.

After stretching himself in the nest that Groot made for him, he groggily walked into the common area, where Quill was pretending to shoot with some twin guns, probably out of boredom.

He turned when he heard Mikey entering the room and greeted him with a smirk and nod. "Hey. You get enough sleep?"

"I guess," Mikey yawned as he lifted himself onto the table and sat on the edge. "So I take it you haven't been to Earth in, like, forever."

Quill chuckled softly. "What gave that away?"

"Dude, you're still listening to music with a Walkman. Nobody uses cassettes anymore. We have iTunes now."

"iTunes, huh? Sounds cool. But yeah, it's been 26 years since I was abducted."

Mikey looked back at Quill surprised. "Really? It's been that long? Why haven't you gone back yet? You have your own ship."

There was some sadness in Quill's blue eyes as he looked directly at Mikey. "'Cause there's nothing for me to go back to."

"What do you mean?" Mikey asked him, now curious.

"The day I was taken, my Mom..." Quill pulled the Walkman out of his pocket and gingerly held it like it was a precious gem. "She passed away. She had brain cancer."

Mikey's heart instantly broke for him. "Whoa. I...I'm so sorry, dude."

"She was everything to me," Quill continued in a soft and slightly pained voice. "Without her there, Earth's not my home anymore. Just...another planet, you know? Just one in an infinite number of celestial bodies throughout the universe. So I guess you could say that...I don't really belong anywhere."

Mikey slowly nodded, letting those heavy words sink in. "Must be pretty lonely."

Quill glanced over at him, then slowly nodded. "Yeah. I guess it is."

"But don't you miss all the good stuff about Earth? Like cartoons? Or video games? Or more importantly..." Mikey's blue eyes sparkled as he thought about his most favorite thing in the whole wide world. "...pizza?"

"Pizza?" There was a twinkle in Quill's eyes as the corners of his mouth slow it raised into a grin. "Oh, yeah, pizza. I remember that. How could I forget? We always ordered the supreme pizza, with pretty much everything on top. Sausages, pepperoni, mushrooms, and bacon." He closed his eyes as he reminisced about the latter topping. "Oh, god. I miss eating bacon."

"You know what I like on my pizza?" Mikey grinned. "Pepperoni, jellybean, and maple syrup. And I prefer it to be at least three days old."

Quill stared at him wide-eyed for a moment before he threw his head back and laughed. "Oh, man! You are one weird little dude, you know that?"

Mikey laughed along with him when they heard Rocket calling out to them from the cockpit.

"Heads up! We're inbound!"

Mikey jumped off the table abd followed Quill to the stairs, but quickly stopped him. "Hey, I promise you, after all this is over, I'll get you a supreme pizza, even if I have to make it myself."

Quill smirked and nodded before he went up the stairs leading to the cockpit, where everyone else was waiting.

They were now approaching what appeared to be a planet with about half of it blown off. But as they got closer, they all realized that it wasn't a planet at all.

It looked more like a giant skull.

"What is it?" Drax asked in both awe and fear.

"It's called Knowhere," Gamora said. "The severed head of an ancient celestial being."

Mikey gulped. "Wait. We mean we gotta go inside some dead guy's head? You never mentioned that part!"

"There's nothing inside but a colony," Gamora told him then turned to Rocket. "Be wary headed in, rodent. There are no regulations whatsoever there."

"Well, when you said 'heads up'," Mikey leaned against Rocket's seat, "you weren't kidding."

* * *

 _ **Knowhere, Mining Colony**_

It was the biggest and most magnificent colony Mikey had ever seen. When they landed the ship and explored the city, it reminded him so much of downtown Manhattan. Gamora gave the crew a tour and explained the colony's origin to them.

"Hundreds of years ago, the Tivan Group sent workers in to mine the organic matter within the skull. Bone, brain tissue, spinal fluid. All rare resources, highly valued in black markets across the galaxy. It's dangerous and illegal work, suitable only for outlaws."

"Well, Mikey and I come from a planet of outlaws," Quill said as they walked down the street. "Billy the Kid, Bonnie and Clyde, John Stamos."

"John Stamos is just an actor, dude," Mikey corrected him.

"It sounds like a place which I would like to visit," Drax said.

Quill nodded. "Yeah, you should."

Just then, a small group of homeless kids ran to the crew, holding out their empty hands.

"Watch your wallets," Quill warned the others, putting his hands into his pockets.

"Excuse me," a small boy in dirty tattered clothes approached Mikey, staring up at him with large pleading eyes. "Can you spare any units?"

The Turtle wanted to help the poor kid and give him a little money, but unfortunately he didn't have any. He shook his head and held his hands up. "Sorry, kid. Don't have any money on me."

A stupid bug kept buzzing around his head and he smacked it on his cheek. He gave the kid a lopsided grin. "But I do have a dead bug on me."

The kid giggled at Mikey's joke, and it gave the Turtle comfort knowing that he was at least able to give the kid a good laugh if not money.

"Get out of here!" Quill yelled to the kids, who then left the crew alone. Mikey saw that Groot had given a little girl a blue flower, which was adorable and heartwarming.

They soon reached a snazzy-looking bar, the Boot of Jemiah, which was apparently where Gamora's famous buyer was.

"Your buyer's in _there_?" Rocket asked her.

"We are to wait here for his representative," Gamora said.

At that moment, a large bouncer threw a patron out of the bar. "Get outta here!" he yelled in a gruff voice.

"Oh, boy. Don't tell me _he's_ the representative?" Mikey nervously pointed at the bouncer.

"This is no respectable establishment," Drax said outraged. "What do you expect us to do while we wait?"

* * *

Less than an hour later, Drax, Groot, and Rocket were cheering along with a crowd of people as their Orloni scrambled across a gambling table, with a larger creature known as the F'saki chasing after each one. The person whose Orloni lasted the longest before it was devoured by the F'saki was the victor.

Mikey stood by and watched with utter revulsion as the poor rat-things were being gobbled up by that F'saki. This was just as bad as dog fights.

Drax's Orloni was the last to be eaten, making him the winner. "My Orloni has won, as I win at all things!" he proudly declared as he picked up his glass of some kind of alcoholic beverage. "Now let's put more of this liquid into our bodies."

Rocket laughed drunkenly as he swung his own glass around, spilling his drink all over the table. "That's the first thing you said that wasn't bat-sh** crazy!"

Having had enough of watching this barbaric game, Mikey made his way through the crowd and to his friends. He pulled at Groot's arm. "Groot, let's get out of here."

Groot looked down at his young reptilian friend. "I Am Groot?"

"This is sick and wrong," Mikey gestured to the gambling table.

Just then an Orloni leapt off the table and straight into Mikey's hands. He could feel the creature's tiny heart pound rapidly against his palm. The poor little thing was scared out of its mind and it desperately ran to Mikey for salvation.

"Hey! Hey, kid!" a bald yellow-skinned man yelled at him from across the table. "That's my Orloni! Put it back on the table!"

Mikey only glared at the man and hugged the Orloni close to his chest. "No way!"

"Come on, kid!" Rocket slapped him on the shoulder. "It's just a dumb Orloni! Ain't nothing special about it!"

The Turtle was absolutely shocked and mortified to be hearing those words coming out of Rocket's mouth. "If you really think that, Rocket," he pointed an accusing finger at him, "then you're no better than the scientists who made you!"

The whole bar seemed to have quieted down and everyone stared at the Turtle and the raccoon.

Rocket began to breathe heavily and his fur puffed up. "What did you say to me, ninja _brat_?" he hissed as he jabbed his finger into Mikey's plastron.

Mikey instantly realized that it would probably be best _not_ to make a drunken trigger-happy raccoon angry and cleared his throat. "Look, uh, let's just step outside for some fresh air, okay?" he chuckled nervously. "It's a bit smoky in here anyway."

After taking one final gulp of his drink, Drax exhaled and straightened up his pants. "Michelangelo is right. The fun and games are over. We should be focusing on finding Ronan."

"Oh, come on!" Rocket yelled angrily at him. "Is that all you ever think about?! That's always been the problem with your people! Anytime somebody gets on your bad side, you wanna rip their insides out! And you spoil all the fun! You _both_ do! You and that...that _freak_!"

Mikey felt his heart rip in half the moment Rocket called him a freak.

Drax, on the other hand, was beyond furious and he roughly shoved Mikey aside as he marched right up to Rocket, looming over him. "Oh, well, don't let us 'spoil all the fun'! You want the game to continue? Then get up on that table and take the Orloni's place! It is where you belong anyway!"

Both hurt and infuriated by the implications of Drax's words, Rocket lunged at him with a growl and began to attack him with scratches and bites. The two rolled around on the floor a bit before Drax threw him across the room. The raccoon crashed into a table and all of the glasses fell to the floor and shattered.

Now the crowd began to cheer and rooted for the two to continue the fight. The bouncer moved in and tried to restrain Drax, but the tattooed man lifted him and flung him across the room.

"DRAX, STOP!" Mikey screamed, then turned to Groot. "STOP HIM, GROOT!"

With a determined look on his face, Groot ran to Drax and pinned him to the floor. But Drax pushed him off and shoved him into the gambling table.

Mikey gripped the sides of his head and watched helplessly as the two rolled around on the floor punching each other. "Oh, man..." All this happened because he had to fight for animal rights...and tick off a drunken Rocket.

Drax eventually got the upper hand and started to pound on Groot, who then used his vines to restrain him. But Drax easily ripped them off and was about to attack Groot again when he saw Rocket standing in front of him and aiming a large gun at his face.

Someone suddenly grabbed Drax by the arm and pulled him off Groot.

"STOP IT!" Gamora screamed in his face.

Quill jumped in between Rocket and Drax before the former could fire his weapon. "Whoa! Whoa! What are you doing?!"

"This vermin speaks of affairs he knows nothing about!" Drax shouted as he pointed to Rocket.

"That is true!" Rocket yelled back.

"HE HAS NO RESPECT!" Drax roared.

"THAT IS _ALSO_ TRUE!" Rocket screamed.

Mikey helped Groot off the floor, and the tree rubbed his aching jaw. "You okay, tree-bro?" the Turtle asked him in concern.

"Keep calling me 'vermin', tough guy!" Rocket challenged Drax. "You just wanna laugh at me like everyone else!"

Quill attempted to calm the raging raccoon down. "Rocket, you're drunk. All right? No one's laughing at you."

"He thinks I'm some stupid thing! He does!" He then looked directly at Mikey, who could see his brown eyes brimming with unshed tears. "Well, I didn't ask to get made! I didn't ask to be torn apart and put back together over and over and turned into some..." He inhaled sharply before he spoke again in a cracked voice. "...some little monster!"

"Rocket, no one's calling you a monster," Quill calmly told him.

Rocket pointed to Drax, Gamora, and Mikey in that particular order. "He called me 'vermin'! She called me 'rodent'! And now _he's_ called me...!" He couldn't finish and his lower lip trembled as he came very close to crying. Then his lips curled back into a snarl. "Let's see if you can laugh after five or six good shots to your _frickin' face!_ " He raised the gun again at all three of them now.

Gamora held Drax back as he tried to charge at Rocket once again while Mikey hid behind Groot.

Quill blocked Rocket's view again. "Nononononononono! _Four billion units!_ ROCKET! Come on, man! Hey! Suck it up for one more lousy night and you're rich!"

Rocket slowly lowered his weapon as he considered Quill's words, then he finally relented. "Fine," he mumbled. "But I can't promise when all this is over, I'm not gonna kill every last one of you jerks."

Quill facepalmed. "See?! That's _exactly_ why none of you have any friends!" He turned back to Drax and Gamora. "Five seconds after you meet somebody, you're already trying to kill them!" He then gestured to Groot and Mikey. "I mean, why can't you guys be more like Mikey or-or even Groot?"

But Drax had had enough. "We have traveled halfway across the _quadrant_ ," he growled, "and Ronan is no closer to being dead." He shoved Gamora away and marched off in a drunken rage, pushing his way through the crowd.

"Drax!" Quill called after him.

Mikey stepped out from behind Groot. "Drax, wait!"

"Let him go," Gamora told them. "We don't need him."

Groot huffed and even did a "forget him" wave off.

Just then a door slid open and a young pink woman who wore a simple short white dress and pigtails greeted them with a smile and curtesy bow. "Milady Gamora, I'm here to fetch you for my master."

As they all followed her inside, Mikey looked down at Rocket, who was still sulking as he put his gun away. "Rocket? Um, about earlier-"

"Shut up," the raccoon grumbled, and the Turtle did just that, leaving him alone.


	5. Chapter 5

**NOTE: There will probably be grammar mistakes which I will fix later.**

"Okay, this isn't creepy at all," Rocket mumbled as the gang stepped into the buyer's residence, which was an intergalactic museum of some kind.

Exhibit cases of all shapes and sizes contained strange items and creatures. Mikey gasped in shock when he realized that most of the creatures were still alive, moving around in their boxes and staring at the gang as they passed by.

Carina, the pink girl whose master was the buyer, gave them a quick tour. "We house the galaxy's largest collection of fauna, relics, and species of all manner.

A dog wearing an astronaut's suit and helmet growled at Rocket from inside his case. The raccoon growled back as he walked by, but Mikey stopped to look at the pooch and pressed his hands against the glass.

"Awwww, hey there, buddy!" he tapped on the glass and smiled at the dog. "Who's a good boy?" The dog wagged his tail and gave the Turtle a friendly bark.

"Come on," Quill grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him away from the case. "We're not here to sightsee."

Carina led them to a white-haired man wearing a fur cape. He had his back to them as he continued to inspect some relics with a special pair of goggles. Carina stopped to face the group and gestured to the man behind her. "I present to you Taneleer Tivan, the Collector."

At Carina's announcement, Tivan slowly turned around and revealed himself to them. He removed his goggles and approached Gamora, taking her hand and kissing it in a gentlemanly manner. "Oh, my dear Gamora. How wonderful to meet in the flesh."

Gamora rolled her eyes. "Let's bypass the formalities, Tivan. We have what we discussed."

But Tivan didn't seem to be listening to her as his eyes were focused entirely on Groot. "What...is that...thing...there?"

"I Am Groot," Groot answered.

Tivan slowly walk toward Groot, fascinated by the tree creature. "I never thought I'd meet a Groot. Sir...you must allow me to pay you now so that I may own your carcass. At the moment of your death, of course."

Mikey stared at the Collector, not sure if he heard him right. "Dude. That's just creepy."

Groot, on the other hand, didn't seem bothered by that at all and shrugged. "I Am Groot."

Rocket scoffed. "Why? So he could turn you into a frickin' chair?"

"That's your pet?" Tivan asked Groot as he nodded to the raccoon.

"His WHAT?!" An infuriated Rocket reached for his gun, but Mikey quickly stopped him.

"Dude, do _not_ provoke him," Mikey warned Tivan. "He's still sobering up."

Tivan only chuckled, amused by the tempered raccoon's reaction.

Gamora stepped in between Tivan and Rocket. "Tivan," she sternly said. "We have been halfway around the galaxy, retrieving this Orb."

The Collector nodded. "Very well, then. Let us see what you brought."

Gamora nodded at Quill, who pulled the Orb from out of his bag and held it out to Tivan...only to drop it. With his ninja reflexes, Mikey was able to catch it before it hit the ground and handed it to Tivan.

The Collector gingerly held the Orb in his hands and studied it as he walked to a table. "Fascinating," he murmured.

"So, uh, why do you collect so much stuff?" Mikey asked him out of curiosity.

"Why does one create a piece of art?" Tivan asked him in turn as he carefully placed the Orb in a device with two mechanical claws. "Or compose music? Each and every one of us has a hobby of our own. Collecting is simply mine."

Mikey looked around at all the creatures that were contained in cases. "Well, cards and stamps I can totally understand, but...even people?"

"Oh, believe me when I tell you," Tivan chuckled creepily, "they're much better off _here_ than anywhere else in the galaxy."

The young Turtle noticed a young pink girl like Carina who was also in a case. She seemed awfully lonely, kneeling inside that glass box with downcast eyes. He instantly felt sympathy for her and the rest of the incarcerated creatures. "Not so sure about that, dude," he somberly muttered.

Tivan didn't hear him, though, too fascinated with the Orb as the claws began to dissemble it. "Oh, my new friends. Before creation itself, there were six singularities." As he continued to tell the story, a hologram of connected circles appeared all around the group, and each circle projected a distinct image and memory. "Then the universe exploded into existence, and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated ingots...Infinity Stones."

A tiny but very bright purple light emitted from inside the Orb as the claws continued to work.

"These stones, it seems, could only be brandished by beings of extraordinary strength. Observe." He pointed to one of the circles, which showed a giant in full body armor chasing after a fleeing group of people with a staff in his hand. "These carriers can use the Stone to mow down the entire civilization like wheat in a field."

The giant in the projection tapped the ground with his staff, and the moment it did, a great wave of purple engery consumed the entire planet, destroying every living thing on it. Like wheat in a field, as Tivan put it.

Normally, Mikey would've said something like, "Holy Chalupa" or "Holy Pepperoni," but he was too stunned to even say a word and could only stare at the image with his mouth agape and his eyes widened.

Quill was just as horrified as he was. "There's a little pee coming out of me right now," he whimpered.

"Once, for a moment, a group was able to share the energy amongst themselves, but even they were quickly destroyed by it." Another circle showed a group of cloaked figures, who all burst into purple flames under the overwhelming power of the Stone.

Finally, the Orb had completely opened, revealing the tiny but supposedly very powerful Infinity Stone. Tivan shuddered with ectasy as he beheld its beauty. "Oh...beautiful. Beyond compare."

"Blah blah blah!" Rocket impatiently scorned. "We're all very fascinated, whitey, but we'd like to get paid!

The holographic circles disappeared as Tivan moved to another table. "And how would you like to get paid?" he asked.

"What do you think, fancy man?" Rocket snapped. "Units!"

"Very well, then," Tivan opened a drawer and reached his hand in when he looked up and saw something that made him blanch. "Carina..."

Everyone turned around to see Carina slowly moving toward the Stone, mesmerized by it. Mikey instantly got a bad feeling.

"Stand back," Tivan calmly yet sternly ordered the girl.

But Carina only glared at him defiantly. "I will no longer be your slave!" she angrily yelled right before she reached for the Stone.

"NO!"

The moment her hand clasped around the tiny Stone, balls of purple fire shot out and flew everywhere, obliterating everything they came into contact with. Everyone instantly duck and covered, and Mikey crawled on the floor alongside Rocket.

"AAAAAHH! WHAT'S HAPPENING?!" Mikey screamed as the explosions got more intense. Then he felt someone swiftly pick him up and carry him towards the exit. He looked up and saw Groot, who had tucked both him and Rocket under his arms.

As they ran outside, they could feel the heat of the flames that were about to consume them. All three screamed as Groot took a great leap alway from the blast, which thankfully stopped right before it could reach them. Once the flames had died down and the explosions stopped, they stood back up and coughed from all the smoke.

"Holy sh**...!" Rocket gasped as he brushed all the soot off his outfit then looked over at Mikey. "Hey. You okay, kid?"

"Yeah," Mikey coughed, with Groot gently slapping his shell to help him. "Where...where's Quill and Gamora?"

"I dunno," Rocket's head turned in the direction of the museum. "Hopefully they're not toast."

Worried about his friends, Mikey went to go look for them. "Come on!" he called out to Groot and Rocket, gesturing for them to follow. When they got to the front entrance of the bar, both Quill and Gamora were walking out of there unharmed, much to Mikey's tremendous relief.

But then he saw that Gamora was holding the Orb in her hand and began to stammer in disbelief. "Wh-Wh-What-?! Why do you-?!"

"What do you still have it for?!" Rocket finished for him.

"Well, what were we gonna do, leave it in there?" Quill defended.

"I can't believe you had THAT in your purse!"

"It's not a purse! It's a knapsack!"

"Yeah, dude!" Mikey agreed. "It's a _man_ -purse!"

Quill shot the young Turtle an indignant look.

"We have to bring this to the Nova Corps," Gamora declared. "There's a chance they can contain it."

"Are you kidding me?!" Rocket incredulously questioned. "We're wanted by the Nova Corps! Just give it to Ronan!"

"So he can destroy the galaxy?!" Quill argued.

"What are you, some saint all of a sudden? What has the galaxy ever done for you? Why would you wanna save it?"

"Because I'm one of the idiots _who lives in it_!"

"Look," Mikey interjected, "I dunno who this Ronan guy is, but he sounds like bad news to me. So I'm gonna have to agree with Quill on this one."

"Yeah, _you_ would agree with him," Rocket glared up at him. "Tree-hugger."

Groot was offended by Rocket's remark and huffed. "I Am Groot."

"Oh, come on!" Mikey whined. "You're not still mad about _that_ , are you?!"

Rocket snorted. "Mad? No! Why would I be mad about you _publicly humiliating me_?!"

"I didn't _mean_ to, dude!"

"Sure you didn't!"

"ENOUGH!" Gamora angrily yelled, catching their attention. She then turned to Quill. "Peter, listen to me, we cannot allow the Stone to fall into Ronan's hands. We have to go back to your ship and deliver it to Nova."

Quill nodded, patting the Orb in her hand. "Right, right, okay. I think you're right. OR...we could give it to somebody who's _not_ going to arrest us, who's _really_ nice, for a whole lot of money."

Gamora looked at him in disgust and backed away from him.

"I think it's a really good balance between both of your points of view," Quill reasoned, trying to appease her.

But Gamora wouldn't hear any more of it. "You're despicable. Dishonorable. FAITHLESS!" She started to storm away when she stopped dead in her tracks, looking up at the sky. "Oh, no..."

Mikey followed her gaze and saw an entire fleet of ships hovering over the city. In the middle of the street, Drax stood with his knives raised and laughed. "At last! I shall meet my foe and _destroy_ him!"

"You _called_ Ronan?!" Quill yelled to him as the leading ship landed.

Just then, a blue-skinned man with a red Mohawk-like thing on his head pushed his way through the crowd. "QUILL! Don't you move, boy!" he shouted in a Southern accent.

"You know that guy?" Mikey asked Quill, but the human ignored him and ran straight toward a small station where some mining pods were docked. The others followed him and jumped into their own pods, except Groot and Mikey, neither of whom knew how to fly a ship. Groot tried to hop in which Rocket, but the raccoon wouldn't let him.

"I told you, you can't fit," Rocket told him. "Now wait here. I'll be back."

As Rocket's pod took off, Groot looked down at Mikey for any suggestions on what to do next. The Turtle shrugged his shoulders in response. Now he really wished that he took those free flying lessons from Fugitoid.

Then, in the midst of the panicking crowd, Mikey spotted someone awfully familiar. A turtle humanoid with a tattered orange bandana over his mouth was carrying a large sack over his shoulder.

Mikey's eyes widened in shock when he realized who it was. "Hey...HEY! That's him!" He pointed to where the alien turtle stood. "Groot! That's the guy who framed me!" He sprinted toward the thief and pulled his grappling hook out. "HEY, YOU!"

The turtle turned his head and his yellow-green eyes widened as he instantly recognized Mikey. Dropping the heavy bag, he made a run for it, frantically shoving people aside.

Mikey glared ahead at the fleeing criminal and picked up the pace. No. Not again. This time he was going to capture the rock-stealing reptile and make him pay for his crimes. He never even noticed the battle that was taking place in the sky.

The turtle ran to a building and climbed up the latter with Mikey following close behind him. He made it to the rooftop and started to run, but then the string of the grappling hook wrapped around his legs and he tripped, falling flat on his face.

Growling, Mikey stomped toward the thief and lifted him off the floor. "I was thrown in jail because of you!" he angrily shouted as he got nose to nose with the scared criminal.

"L-Look," the turtle gulped. "It wasn't personal or anything. It's just, you know...every turtle for himself."

Mikey sneered at the pathetic coward. "Oh, that's rich," he hissed. He wanted so badly to punch this jerk in the face but refrained from doing so. After all, he was the better man- er, Turtle.

Just then he spotted something over the turtle's shoulder in the distance. He squinted his eyes and could make out Drax's grey muscular body being dragged across the street by some other guy. He gasped in horror when Drax was tossed onto a pool of yellow liquid. "DRAX!"

He had a decision to make: to either turn this lowlife in to the Nova Corps and clear his name, or to let him go so that he could save Drax.

However, it didn't take Mikey more than two seconds to make his decision and he shoved the turtle aside to go rescue his friend. The moment he was released, the criminal made a run for it.

Mikey ran as fast as he could, praying that Drax hadn't drowned by now. When he finally got there, a very tall man wearing a cowl over his head slowly turned to face him. His face was blue-skinned and black paint ran down his cheeks, chin, and neck. And those eyes...so cold and predatory, much like the Shredder's.

His mere presence gave Mikey the chills. This had to be the infamous Ronan whom Drax was pursuing, the one who killed his family. For a moment, the two only stared at each other before Mikey snapped himself out of it and ran right past Ronan to get to Drax. He dived straight into the pool and swam after the sinking warrior, grabbing him and pulling him back to safety.

Thankfully, when they resurfaced, Ronan was no longer there. Drax was incredibly heavy and it was very difficult for Mikey to pull him out of the pool. Once he set the unconscious warrior down on the dry ground, he began to slap his face, attempting to wake him up.

"Drax! Drax, come on, bro! Wake up!"

But no matter how hard Mikey slapped, Drax would not open his eyes.

"Come on, dude!" Mikey begged. "Please don't make me do mouth-to-mouth!" When he saw that he had no other choice, he sighed in defeat and took a deep breath, preparing to perform CPR on Drax.

"I Am Groot?"

Mikey whipped his head around and was relieved to see Groot standing behind him. "Groot! Boy, am I glad to see you! You know how to do CPR, right?"

Groot knelt beside him and over Drax, forming a long thorn from out of his finger and suddenly stabbing Drax in the chest with it.

Mikey's jaw dropped. Did Groot seriously just kill Drax? "DUDE! WHAT ARE-?!"

Yellow liquid squirted from out Drax's puncture wound and Drax finally awoke, coughing and spitting out more liquid. He wheezed as he inhaled and both Groot and Mikey helped him to sit upright.

"Take it easy, Drax," Mikey soothingly told him. "We're here for you, bro."

At that moment, a mining pod came crashing down in front of them, and Mikey prepared himself for battle. But he sighed in relief when the door slid open and Rocket climbed out, cursing and grumbling.

"Blasted idiot!" the raccoon grunted as he landed on his feet. "They're _all_ idiots!"

Mikey noticed that Quill and Gamora weren't with him and began to fear the worse. "Rocket, where's Gamora and Quill?"

"Quill just got himself captured!"

Mikey's heart instantly dropped. "And Gamora...?"

"She got captured, too! And you know what's worse?! Ronan's got the Stone now!"

"Are you kidding me?!" Mikey grabbed the sides of his head in panic.

"I wish I were!" Rocket then looked directly at Drax. "None of this ever would have happened if you didn't try to singe-handedly _take on a frickin' army_!"

Instead of retorting like he usually would, Drax merely nodded. "You're right," he softly said with guilt and remorse in his voice. He looked down at the ground ashamed. "I was a fool. All that anger...all that rage...was just to cover my loss."

Mikey's heart ached for the grieving father and widower. He knew all too well what it was like to lose a loved one and to feel the strong urge to take revenge, even though it wasn't in his nature. He knew that Drax was good-natured, but loss can drive anyone over the edge and make them do things they normally wouldn't.

Groot, too, felt sympathy for Drax and gently touched his shoulder. Mikey glanced over at Rocket and thought that the softened look on the raccoon's face was one of sympathy, too.

He quickly learned that he couldn't have been more wrong.

"Oh, boo-hoo-hoo! 'My wife and child are dead!'" Rocket cruelly mocked Drax.

Mikey stared wide-eyed at him while Groot gasped loudly and clamped a hand over his mouth in shock.

"Oh, I don't care if it's mean!" Rocket snapped. "EVERYBODY'S got dead people! It's no excuse to get everybody else dead along the way!"

Although Mikey understood what Rocket was saying, he was still infuriated by that remark the raccoon spat at Drax. "That's not mean, Rocket," he tried to be as calm and collected as he could be. "That's just downright cruel."

"Yeah? Well, the truth can be cruel!" Rocket retorted. "I ain't cruel! I'm just realistic, maybe a little too pessimistic, I'll admit! The problem with _you_ is that you just can't seem to grow up! You think life's all about happiness and friendship and all that jazz! You've never had it rough like I did! 'Cause if you did, then you certainly wouldn't be the starry-eyed, soft Turtle that you are now!"

Finally, Mikey couldn't take Rocket's attitude anymore and stood up, slowly walking towards the raccoon. "Rocket, you think _I_ asked to be a mutant? You don't think it hurts every time someone calls _me_ a monster? Or a freak?"

Rocket sighed tiredly and rubbed his forehead. "Alright, look, kid-"

"I'm not finished," Mikey hissed, shutting Rocket up. "You think I asked to be thrown in jail for something I didn't even do?" His voice started to rise and tremble with growing anger as he continued. "You think I asked to go on this stupid trip across the universe? You think I asked the Triceratons to suck my planet into a _black hole_?!" His hands clenched into fists at his sides and he screamed at Rocket, his blue eyes welling with tears. "YOU THINK I ASKED THE SHREDDER TO KILL MY DAD?!"

Rocket looked up at him stunned, not expecting this kind of outburst from the normally happy go-lucky Turtle. Even Drax was surprised, instantly snapping out of his depression. Groot only looked at his young friend with sad dark eyes.

Mikey took a couple of deep shaky breaths before he spoke again in a much calmer but still very bitter voice. "I probably have the worst luck out of all of you combined, but you don't hear _me_ insulting people and making fun of their feelings, do you? Just because you've had it rough doesn't give you an excuse to act like a big jerk."

For a moment, the raccoon seemed to feel guilty about what he said. But, being the stubborn and prideful person that he was, he quickly shrugged it off. "Come on, Groot. Ronan has the Stone. The only chance we got is to get to the other side of the universe as fast as we can and maybe, just _maybe_ , we'll be able to live full lives before that whack-job ever gets there."

Mikey sighed and shook his head in disappointment. "Fine. I'll go rescue Quill and Gamora by myself if I have to." He turned away from Rocket and was about to walk past Groot when the tree creature stopped him by gently grabbing his shoulder. Mikey looked up at him in surprise and confusion, and Groot smiled down at him before he turned back to Rocket.

"I Am Groot."

"'Save them'?" Rocket repeated. " _How?_ "

"I Am Groot."

Mikey smiled gratefully at Groot. At least _he_ cared about the fate of his friends and the galaxy.

Rocket sighed and shook his head. "I _know_ they're the only friends we ever had, but there's an army of Ravagers around them, and there's only two of us!"

Drax slowly got up and placed his hand on Groot's shoulder. "Three," he corrected Rocket.

Mikey smiled even bigger, overjoyed now that Drax was back on the team. He leaned against Groot and held up two fingers on each hand. "Make that four, dude."

Seeing that he now had no choice but to go after the Ravagers _and_ Ronan, Rocket groaned in frustration and gripped the sides of his head. He turned to a small patch of grass and began to viciously kick it. "You're making...me...beat...up...grass!"

Mikey couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. The raccoon reminded him so much of a certain hotheaded Turtle.


	6. Chapter 6

**To ALL reviewers, official and guest: I appreciate ALL reviews and take them to heart. Thank you so much. :)**

 **However, this is not a chat-room, and the more non-reviews you leave, the more space you take. If I delete a non-review, it's nothing personal; I always read them, plus they're saved in my emails. I NEVER ignore a single post (unless it's one of those short story ones that are unrelated to my fic). Like I said, I cherish each and every one of them. It's more of a space thing, if you understand. The text box is for reviews and/or requests only. If you want to ask or tell me something personally, click on the private messaging link.**

 **And Flint, that's actually pretty rude what you said. That felt like an insult, correct me if I'm wrong please.**

 **NOTE: There will probably be grammar mistakes which I will fix later.**

"So lemme get this straight," Rocket started the Milano to go after the Ravagers and save Quill and Gamora. "You had the guy exactly where you wanted, and then you just let him go."

Mikey buckled himself up in the seat next to Rocket's. "I had to, dude. Drax needed my help."

The raccoon scoffed and shook his head. "Well, that was a pretty dumb move," he muttered.

"It's called being a friend, Rocket," Mikey glared at him. "Friends help each other."

"Yeah, but you're still a fugitive. Once Nova catches us, they'll throw you back in jail, maybe even throw away the key. And you did all that for Mr. Literal back there?"

"Hey! My name is not Mr. Literal!" Drax called out from the back of the ship.

"You know it pays to act altru...altru...uh..." Mikey scratched his head as he tried to think of the word. "Oh, man. What does Donnie call it?"

"Altruistically?" Rocket finished for him.

Mikey nodded and smiled. "Yeah! That's it!"

"Do you even know that means?"

"Sure I do!"

"Oh, yeah? What does it mean?"

Mikey blinked. "Um..."

"And the 'ums' have it! You don't even know what that word means!"

"Well, what do I look like, a dictionary?!"

"I Am Groot," Groot said.

"Yeah, yeah, fine," Rocket grumbled as he steered the ship out of the dead Celestial's skull and into the stars. "We'll focus on rescuing Quill and Gamora. Any of you guys got a plan?"

"Wait," Mikey looked over at Rocket shocked, "you mean, you don't have a plan?"

"Why do I have to be the one to think up a plan?"

"You're the genius here! A trigger-happy, psychotic one at that but still! If anyone can think up a plan that could actually work, it's you!"

"Oh, so now I have to do everything?"

"I didn't say that!" Mikey groaned and rubbed his temples. They were wasting their time arguing while Quill and Gamora were probably fighting for their lives. Then his eyes popped open and sly smile formed on his lips. "Yeah, you got a point. You're just a dumb raccoon-thingy. How can you be of any help?"

Rocket's ear twitched. "What?" he said through gritted teeth.

Groot clamped a hand over his mouth in shock.

Mikey grinned even wider. He struck a nerve. "I mean, if we need someone to go through garbage and find bottle caps, we'll call you. But leave the planning to us intelligent people."

That finally did it. Rocket slapped his hands down on the control console. "Now, hold up!" he angrily yelled. "If it wasn't for me, your green scaly ass would still be in jail! You wouldn't have made it this far without me!"

Mikey raised an eye ridge, still grinning. "Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah! And none of you morons will be able to save Quill without my help! In fact, I've got a plan! Wait here!" He hopped out of his seat and ran to the back of the ship.

Mikey looked over at Groot and nodded. "You see, Groot? It's called backwards philosophy. Or is it rewinded physiology?"

* * *

 **Knowhere**

The turtle bandit panted as he ran down the street. He could hear his chasers getting closer and picked up the pace. "Give it up!" he shouted. "There's no way you guys are ever gonna catch- oof!"

Donnie landed on top of him and pinned him down with his Bo staff. The others caught up and Leo gave his brother a congratulatory pat on the shoulder.

"Nice work, Donnie," he knelt down and pulled the thief up by his bandana which was now hanging around his neck. "Alright, punk, listen up," he growled, narrowing his eyes at him. "Our brother is in jail because of you, and we've traveled halfway across the galaxy to find you, so don't try our patience."

The thief gulped and frantically nodded. "Y-Yes, sir. J-Just one quick question. Your brother, he wouldn't happen to be wearing an orange mask and have freckles on his face, would he?"

Leo raised a skeptical eye ridge. "Yeah, why?"

"Well, you just missed him. He left this place about thirty minutes ago."

"What?!" April gasped.

Casey, on the other hand, wasn't buying it and scoffed. "You lie!"

The thief shook his head. "No, really! He almost had me, but for some reason, he let me go!"

"Yeah, right," Raph growled, crossing his arms.

"But, wait," Donnie interjected, "what if it really was Mikey? Maybe he escaped from jail."

Fugitoid sighed sadly. "As much as I'd like to believe that, Donatello, it's highly unlikely. After all, no prisoner has ever escaped from the Kyln alive."

"Yeah, but this is Mikey we're talking about. He's gotten himself out of situations like these many times before."

"But if he did escape, then why hasn't he contacted us yet?" April asked.

"Maybe he couldn't," Donnie suggested. "Keep in mind that we do have his T-phone."

Raph groaned and kicked a patch of grass in frustration. "Then how are we ever gonna find him if we can't even contact him?!"

Leo glanced back at his tempered brother. "We'll figure something out, Raph."

"So now that your brother is free, guess that means you won't have to send me to jail, right?" the thief said with a hopeful smile.

Everyone just glared at him in response.

He sighed and hung his head in defeat. "Yeah, I was afraid of that," he muttered dejectedly.

* * *

 _I'm your boogie man, that's what I am_

 _I'm here to do whatever I can_

 _Be it early morning, late afternoon_

 _Or at midnight, it's never too soon_

 _I want to please you, to want to keep you_

 _To want to do it all, all for you_

 _I want to be your, be your rubber ball_

 _I want to be the boy you love most of all, oh yeah_

Mikey was in the common area, dancing to the song "I'm Your Boogie Man" by KC and the Sunshine Band. He used a screwdriver as microphone and pretended to sing into it. He never noticed Drax walked into the room and continued to do disco moves.

 _I'm your boogie man, I'm your boggie man_

 _Turn me on_

 _I'm your boogie man, I'm your boogie man_

 _I'll do what you want_

 _I'm your boogie man, I'm your boogie man_

 _Turn me on_

 _I'm your boogie man, I'm your boogie man_

 _I'll do what you want_

"You and Quill have the strangest taste in music," Drax said loud enough to startle Mikey.

The Turtle dropped the the screwdriver and whipped his head around, clutching his chest. "Dude! You scared the daylights out of me!"

Drax looked at him confused. "I don't see any lights coming out of you."

"Nevermind," Mikey turned the volume down and sat on the table. "I was just listening to some of Quill's tunes to pass the time. You know, before we find these Ravagers."

Drax nodded as he sat down next to Mikey. "I see. Michelangelo, I want to thank you for defending my honor, even though I didn't deserve it."

Mikey gave Drax a friendly pat on the back. "Like I told Rocket, that's what friends are for."

Drax looked over at Mikey with soft, somber eyes. "You still consider me to be your friend?"

Mikey smiled warmly at him and nodded. "Yep."

"But you gave up the chance to prove your innocence. You might never get another chance ever again." Drax hung his head in shame. "And it's all because of me."

"Hey, we got a saying back on Earth: 'Every cloud had a silver lining.' After all of this is over, I'll figure something out."

Drax looked back up at Mikey and touched the young Turtle's shoulder. "And I swear, I will be there to figure it out with you."

Mikey smiled gratefully at the tattooed warrior when Rocket's voice called out to them from the cockpit.

"Hey, heads up! We're approaching the Ravager ship!"

Drax quickly got off the table and put on a space suit. He then picked up the device that Rocket claimed could blow up moons and climbed down into the airlock. Mikey ran up to the cockpit and watched as Rocket fired three warning shots at the Ravager ship.

His eyes nearly popped out of his sockets when he saw how big their ship was. It was bigger than a pod of whales! "Dude, that ship is enormous! They're gonna totally crush us!"

"I ain't too worried about it," Rocket said with a smirk. He then activated the ship's external speakers. "Attention, idiots! The lunatic on top of this craft is holding a Hadron Enforcer. A weapon of my own design. If you don't hand over our companions now, he's gonna tear your ship a new one. A very big one! I'm giving you to the count of five. 5...4...3...!"

 _Rocket, it's me, for God's sakes!_ Quill's frantic voice suddenly came through the transmitter. _We figured it out! We're fine!_

"Oh, hey, Quill," Rocket casually said. "What's going on?"

Mikey leaned forward and spoke to Quill through the speakers. "'Sup, Quill? Gamora, this is Mikey. I'd just like to say...helllooooo!" He then made kissy noises and Rocket had to slap him away from the speakers.

* * *

"You call that 'figured it out'?" Rocket asked Quill after the human explained the deal he made with Yondu and the Ravagers. The crew gathered around in a circle in a private room aboard the Ravager ship. "We're gonna rob the guys who just beat us senseless."

"Oh, you want to talk about senseless?" Quill raised an eyebrow at him. "How about trying to save us by blowing us up?"

"His plan, dude," Mikey pointed to Rocket. "Not ours."

"We were only gonna blow you up if they didn't turn you over!" Rocket explained.

"And how on earth were they gonna turn us over when you only gave them a count of five?!" Quill demanded.

"Well, we didn't have time to work out the minutiae of the plan!" Rocket then turned to Groot and Mikey, who sat side-by-side. "This is what we get for acting altruistically!"

Mikey made a pouty face and slumped his shoulders.

Groot nodded, a displeased look on his face. "I Am Groot."

Rocket nodded in agreement. "They are ungrateful."

"What's important now is we get the Ravagers' army to help us save Xandar," Gamora said.

"So we can give the Stone to Yondu who's just gonna sell it somebody even worse?" Rocket asked her.

"We'll figure that part out later," Quill told him.

"We have to stop Ronan," Gamora declared.

Rocket shrugged his shoulders. "How?"

Quill stepped forward. "I have a plan."

The raccoon raised a skeptical eyebrow at him. " _You've_ got a plan?"

Quill nodded. "Yes."

"First of all, you're copying me from when I said I had a plan."

"No, I'm not. People say that all the time. It's not that a unique of a thing to say."

"Secondly, I don't even believe you have a plan."

"I have...part of a plan!"

Mikey tilted his head in confusion. "Part of a plan?"

Quill looked over at Mikey and nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, part of a plan."

"What percentage of a plan do you have?" Drax asked him.

Gamora pointed an accusing finger at Drax. "You don't get to ask questions after the nonsense you pulled on Knowhere!" she angrily told him.

"I just saved Quill!" Drax defended.

"We've already established that you destroying the ship that I'm on is not saving me," Quill said.

"When did we establish it?"

"Like three seconds ago!"

"I wasn't listening. I was thinking of something else," Drax murmured as he folded his hands.

Mikey rolled his eyes and groaned. "And they say I have trouble paying attention."

"She's right," Rocket said to Drax. "You don't get an opinion." He then turned to Quill. "What percentage?"

Quill pursed his lips. "I don't know. Twelve percent."

"Twelve percent?!" Rocket threw his head back and broke into raucous laughter. Mikey looked at him unamused, thinking that the raccoon was overdoing it a bit.

"That's a fake laugh," Quill grumbled.

"It's real!" Rocket said.

Quill shook his head. "Totally fake."

"That is the most real, authentic, hysterical laugh of my entire life because that is not a plan!"

Even Gamora had to agree with Rocket. "It's barely a concept," she murmured.

Quill looked at Gamora shocked. "You're taking _their_ side?!"

Mikey raised his hand. "Uh, in Quill's defense, it's better than 0%. And it's gotta be better than whatever plan _this_ guy could come up with," he nodded to Rocket, who growled and bared his teeth at him.

"Thank you, Mikey. Thank you," Quill smiled gratefully at him and patted his shell before he turned back to the others. "See? Mikey's the only one of you who has a clue."

Mikey smirked proudly and crossed his arms, nodding his head. "People don't appreciate my genius enough."

"Your ego is showing, kid," Rocket grumbled.

"What? Where?" Mikey looked down at his lower plastron.

Quill sighed and rubbed his temples while Rocket scoffed at Mikey's naivety. Groot just nibbled on a stray leaf on his shoulder.

"Guys," Quill sighed again. "Come on. Yondu is gonna be here in two seconds. He expects to hear this big plan of ours. I need your help. I look around at us. You know what I see? Losers."

Everyone looked at Quill offended and appalled. Mikey was getting close to crying.

"I mean, like, folks who have lost stuff. And we have. Man, we have. All of us. Our homes...our families...normal lives."

At that moment, Mikey thought of Earth, and Master Splinter, and all of his friends who were sucked into the black hole. He bit his lower lip and somberly nodded.

"And usually life takes more than it gives," Quill continued. "But not today. Today it's given us something. It has given us a chance."

"To do what?" Drax quietly asked.

"To give a sh**. For once. Not run away. I, for one, am not gonna stand by and watch as Ronan wipes out billions of innocent lives."

"But, Quill," Rocket spoke in such a soft tone that was so unlike him, "stopping Ronan...it's impossible. You're asking us to die."

There was a momentary pause before Quill sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I guess I am."

A dead silence hung over everyone's heads in the room before Gamora finally spoke up.

"Quill, I have lived most my life surrounded by my enemies." She stood up from her seat. "I will be grateful to die among my friends."

Drax was the next to stand up. "You are an honorable man, Quill. I will fight beside you. And in the end...I will see my wife and daughter again."

Mikey was a bit hesitant on joining in on the mission. There was a good chance that this Ronan guy would kill them all now that he possessed the Infinity Stone. But he could target Earth next should he be allowed to lay waste to the galaxy, and nothing would be able to stop him. But if he died, his bros would totally kill him.

Oh, well.

Taking a deep breath, Mikey stood up from his seat. "You know, when I went on this trip into space, I wasn't expecting to save an entire galaxy." He looked directly at Quill and smirked. "Where do I sign up?"

Groot stood up. "I Am Groot."

Rocket gave his tree friend an incredulous look. Everyone turned to the raccoon, waiting for his answer. Did he really have a choice now?

He finally relented and sighed softly. "Ah, what the hell. I don't got that long a lifespan anyway." He stood up in his seat and crossed his arms. "Now I'm standing. Y'all happy? We're all standing up now. Bunch of jackasses standing in a circle."

 **Can you guys guess which reference from the 1990 TMNT movie I included in this chapter? :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**We're getting there! Next chapter will be the final chapter! And to a certain Guest reviewer, I accept your apology. Thank you. :)**

 **NOTE: There will probably be grammar mistakes which I will fix later.**

Everyone gathered around to hear Gamora and Quill's plan to infiltrate Ronan's ship and retrieve the Infinity Stone.

"The Stone reacts to anything organic," Gamora told the entire crew. "The bigger the target, the bigger the power surge."

"All Ronan's got to do is touch the Stone to the planet's surface and zap!" Quill said. "All plants, animals, Nova Corps..."

"Everything will die."

"So Ronan does not make the surface. Rocket will lead a team to blow a hole in the Dark Aster's starboard hull. Then, our craft and Yondu's will enter."

"Won't there be hundreds of Sakaaran soldiers inside?" Kraglin, Yondu's first mate, asked worriedly.

"I think of Sakaaran as paper people," Drax gruffed.

Kraglin smirked and playfully punched Drax in the arm, which he immediately regretted upon seeing the offended look on the larger man's face.

"Once they know we're on board," Gamora continued, "Ronan will isolate himself behind impenetrable security doors on deck, which I can disable by dismantling the power source."

"We'll make it to the flight deck," Quill smirked, "and I'll use the Hadron Enforcer to kill Ronan."

"Once Ronan is dead, we will retrieve the Stone." As Gamora spoke, a crew member passed out metal orbs to everyone in the room. "Use these devices to contain it. If you touch it, it _will_ kill you."

"I'll contact one of the Nova officers who arrested us. Hopefully, they'll believe we're there to help."

Rocket stepped forward. "There's one more thing we need to complete the plan!" He pointed to a man with long red hair and a mechanical eye. "That guy's eye!"

The poor one-eyed guy looked like he was about to panic.

"No!" Quill shook his head. "No, we don't. No, we don't need that guy's eye."

"No, seriously, I need it!" Rocket insisted but he was giggling. "It's important to me!"

...

"Awwww, come on!" Mikey groaned as he struggled to put on a pair of Ravager pants. His legs were just too large for the tight leather. Even the prison pants back at the Kyln were more comfortable.

 _Rrrrriiiip!_

"Uh-oh." Mikey held out the pants that now had a tear in them. The Ravagers were not gonna be happy about this.

"Sheesh..." He turned to see Rocket standing at the doorway. The raccoon raised an eyebrow at the Turtle. "No wonder you don't wear pants."

Mikey grinned sheepishly and his cheeks blushed. "Heh. Yeah."

"Well, you missed the meeting. Here." Rocket tossed Mikey a metal orb. "If you find the Stone first, put it in that device. 'Cause you know what will happen if you touch it."

A shiver went down Mikey's spine at the memory of the pink girl Carina's demise. "Yeah," he gulped, staring down at the container in thought before he glanced up at Rocket. "Hey, uh, Rocket? You...really think we won't make it out of this one?"

"What, you having second thoughts about this? It's a little too late for that now."

"No, no! It's just...I mean, if this is really it, I just wish I could've seen my brothers once last time, you know? Or at least, told them goodbye."

Rocket looked at Mikey astounded. "You...You mean you're not afraid to die?"

"Of course, I am. In fact, I'm really scared out of my mind right now. I'd be a little less scared if my bros were here with me. We face every danger together, but this time I'm facing it alone."

"Oh. Well, uh..." Rocket awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck as he approached the Turtle. "You're not really not alone, kid. I mean, you got us. I know we ain't your family, but...you know." The raccoon was normally not good at comforting, but he tried for Mikey.

And Mikey did appreciate it, as he smiled gratefully at Rocket. "Thanks, Rocket. You know, if you would try to be a little bit nicer and more considerate, you could make more friends."

Rocket smirked and snorted. "I don't do 'nice', kid. That's not who I am."

Mikey suddenly got an idea and smiled mischievously as he stood up. "You know what you need?" He slowly moved towards Rocket and raised his hands. "A good ticklin'."

Rocket stared blankly at him, not sure whether to believe him or not. "You're kiddin', right? 'Cause if you touch me, you die before the fight even begins."

Mikey only grinned even wider and inched forward.

Rocket took a couple of steps back. "Kid, I mean it! Do _not_ touch me! STOP!"

But Mikey lunged at Rocket and pinned him to the floor, tickling his pits.

"NO! STOP IT! STOP-STOP-STOP!" Rocket tried to fight him off but quickly gave in and laughed as he was being tickled like crazy by the Turtle. He laughed so hard that his eyes started to water. "Ha ha ha ha! Stop! Ha ha! Please! Ha ha ha!"

"I Am Groot?"

Mikey stopped tickling Rocket and they both looked up to see Groot standing over them.

"Groot! Thank God...you're here!" Rocket said as he panted, trying to catch his breath. "Get this...ticklin' maniac off me!"

Groot looked directly at Mikey and smiled. The young Turtle immediately understood and pinned Rocket to the floor again.

"Wha-?!" Rocket watched in horror as Groot knelt down and protruded leaves from out of his fingertips. "You TRAITOR! NO!" Both Groot and Mikey proceeded to tickle him all over, and poor Rocket couldn't control his laughter.

They heard heavy footsteps enter the room and froze. A couple of Ravagers stared at them in confusion, and Rocket growled as he pushed Groot and Mikey off and stood back up. "What are _you_ jackasses staring at?" he said to the Ravagers, who quickly left.

Just then the Ravager navigator's voice spoke through the speakers, _Ronan's fleet has been spotted and will arrive in t-minus fifteen minutes._

Rocket sighed softly as he straightened his suit and grabbed his big gun. "Well...you guys ready to do this?"

Mikey nodded as Groot helped him up. He followed Groot and Rocket down the halls when he accidentally bumped into a large reddish-pink Ravager who had long dirty hair and beard. His face was severely scarred and ugly and he snarled at Mikey, bearing his rotten teeth.

"Hey, watch it, pipsqueak!" he growled.

"Sorry!" Mikey told the man as he stormed off. Then he mumbled to himself, "Yeesh, that guy was butt-ugly, like someone took a taser to his face or something."

* * *

"Why isn't Rocket coming with us?" Mikey asked Quiil as the Milano dropped down from the Ravager's ship. He sat in the very back next to Groot. "Shouldn't we all stick together?"

"He's gonna blast a hole in the Dark Aster so that we can get inside," Quill told him.

Gamora looked at Mikey over her seat. "He'll be fine, Mikey. He may be a rodent, but he's also a very skilled pilot." She sounded so confident that Mikey started to feel slightly more confident, himself. But then he heard her murmur to Quill, "This is a terrible plan." Well, there goes the confidence.

"Hey, you're the one who said you wanted to die among friends," Quill said in a louder voice.

Within minutes, Ronan's warship, the Dark Aster, was in sight. To Mikey, it kind of looked like a bird with two massive wings. Two Ravager ships that were in the front line fired balls of energy, both of which exploded once they collided with the force field that was protecting the Dark Aster. The invisible wall burned with flames and was exposed to the Ravager fleet.

Immediadely all of the M-ships dived under the wall of fire and charged at the Dark Aster from beneath it. Rocket and two other Ravager ships started firing at a particular spot on the warship, but at that moment, hundreds of Sakaaran Necrocrafts appeared and fired at the Ravager fleet.

Once Rocket and the Ravagers had managed to blast a hole in the wall, he yelled at Quill and Yondu to move in. Mikey gripped the arms of his seat and pulled his head into his shell as the Milano zipped past the Necrocrafts and charged at the Dark Aster. Luckily Quill was a very skilled pilot, perhaps the best one Mikey had ever met, but even he couldn't dodge every single blast and the ship got hit a few times.

Yondu's voice came over the transmitter. _Aw, hell! I'm going down, Quill! No more games with me, boy! I'll see you at the end of this!_

The Milano got hit by another blast and Mikey yelped at the impact. Groot saw how scared he was and reached over to grab his hand.

"There are too many of them, Rocket!" Gamora yelled as the situation was getting more and more grim. "We'll never make it up there!"

Suddenly more ships arrived, but they didn't look like Necrocrafts or Ravager ships. But apparently they were friends as they fired at the Necrocrafts and cleared the way for the Milano.

A man's voice spoke to the crew through the transmitter. _Peter Quill, this is Denarian Saal of the Nova Corps. For the record, I advised against trusting you here. Prove me wrong._

"They got my 'dick' message!" Quill exclaimed excitedly. Mikey looked at him from the backseat confused, but he was very relived that the Nova Corps were on their side this time.

The Milano flew straight through the hole that Rocket had blasted in and although everyone else was tense and nervous, Drax was laughing the entire time as though this were a roller ride. Mikey was beginning to wonder if Ronan hit Drax in the head too hard.

Sakaaran soldiers fired their guns at the Milano as it flew in, but Quill fired back and vanquished them all. The ship came to a screeching halt and everyone let out sighs of relief. They made it.

"YES!" Drax pumped his fists in the air and continued to laugh.

Mikey let go of Groot's hand and hugged his stomach as he groaned.

Quill heard him and looked over his seat. "Swallowed your gum again?" he joked, smirking.

The Turtle shook his head before he vomited all over the floor.

...

They left the busted up ship behind and stepped into a very dark and cold room. It was so dark that Mikey couldn't even see his hand in front of him as he waved it.

"I can barely see," Drax grumbled.

"You guys got any flashlights?" Mikey asked Quill and Gamora.

Quill shook his head. "Forgot to bring some."

"So how are we gonna find Ronan and the Stone now?"

Without saying a word, Groot slowly raised his arm and released thousands of glowing particles from his body. They were beautiful and shined brightly like fireflies in the night. They hovered over everyone's heads and lit up the entire room, which was revealed to be a corridor. Mikey dared to catch one and it felt warm and soft in the palm of his hand.

"Wow..." Mikey's eyes sparkled in amazement as he stared at the glowing spore.

"When did you learn to do that?" Drax quietly asked Groot as he looked around him.

"Pretty sure the answer is, 'I Am Groot,'" Quill commented.

Gamora pointed to the path before them. "The flight deck is 300 meters this way."

As everyone followed her down the corridor, Drax spoke softly to the others, "I want you all to know that I am grateful for your acceptance after my blunders."

Mikey looked up at Drax puzzled. "Huh?"

"He's grateful to us for letting him stick around even after he screwed up big," Quill explained to him.

Drax nodded. "It is pleasing to once again have...friends." He looked down at Mikey and gently touched his shoulder. "Michelangelo, I apologize for what I said to you back at the Kyln. I was wrong. You _are_ my friend."

Mikey smiled warmly at him and placed his hand over Drax's, giving it a gentle, loving squeeze.

Drax looked over at Quill. "You, Quill, are my friend."

"Thanks," Quill said.

"This dumb tree, he is my friend," Drax said, obviously referring to Groot.

Groot grunted softly and nodded, taking no offense to Drax calling him "dumb".

Finally, Drax addressed Gamora. "And this green whore, she, too-"

Gamora whipped her head around and yelled furiously at him, "Oh, you must STOP!"

Mikey couldn't help but giggle. At least Drax was trying to be friendly with her, even if it did come out wrong.

Suddenly a figure jumped from out of the shadows and stood before the group. It as a blue-skinned, bald-headed young woman with a robotic left arm. Parts of her face were covered with metal and her cold, dark eyes sent shivers down Mikey's spine.

"Gamora," she hissed, "look at what you have done. You have always been weak, you stupid, traitorous-" Before she could even finish her sentence, she was hit by an energy blast and sent flying backwards into a wall.

Everyone slowly turned to Drax, whose gun was smoking. "Nobody talks to my friends like that," he said.

Gamora flashed him a grateful smile before she turned to the others. "Head to the flight deck. I'll shut down the power to the security doors."

Quill, Groot, Drax, and Mikey continued on their way while Gamora marched toward the blue woman, who was getting back on her feet.

"Who was that lady?" Mikey asked the others as they ran.

"I think that was her sister, Nebula," Quill told him.

Mikey's eyes widened. "Her _sister_?"

On their way to the flight deck, they were intercepted by a group of Sakaaran soldiers, among which was a Kree mercenary named Korath. He smiled devilishly at Quill. "Star-Lord," he growled.

"What?" Mikey stiffed his laughter. "'Star-Lord'? Are you serious, dude?"

Korath grabbed Quill and threw him to the ground while the Sakaaran soldiers charged at Drax, Mikey, and Groot.

"Aw, yeah!" Mikey cheered as he pulled out his nunchucks and twirled them. "Hero time!" Letting out a battle cry, he charged at the soldiers and used his advanced ninja skills to take them down one by one, sometimes two at a time.

At one point he even kicked a Sakaaran in the gonads. "Sorry, dude!" Mikey said insincerely. "No evil alien babies for you!"

He'd occassionally look over at Groot, who, being the super strong tree creature that he was, simply kicked and threw the soldiers aside. For a gentle giant, he was a total badass in the battlefield.

Mikey turned in time to see Drax pin Korath to a turbine and grabbed a piece of machinery that was connected to Korath's head, slowly pulling it out and causing severe pain to Korath.

"Finger to the throat means death," Drax growled right before he tore out the cybernetic part. Korath's body spasmed a bit from the electric shocks before he dropped to the floor. Drax then turned to Quill. "Metaphor."

Quill paused before he shrugged. "Yeah, sorta." He then noticed another platoon of Sakaaran soldiers heading their way. "Oh, no."

"I got 'em!" Mikey was about to charge straight at them when Groot suddenly blocked his way with one arm.

He extended his other arm into a long vine that completely skewered six of the soldiers and used it as a whip-like weapon to take down the others. Groot roared as he whipped his vine back and forth, up and down, the six Samaarans dangling lifelessly as he worked. Once all of the soldiers were defeated, Groot retracted his arm and looked back at the others, smiling innocently at them.

Mikey stared at Groot with wide eyes and his mouth agape before he spoke slowly, "Dude...that...was...AWESOME!" He ran to Groot with his hand raised. "Yeeeeaah, boiiiii! High-three!"

Groot tilted his head in confusion, not understanding the gesture. "I Am Groot?"

"It's not over yet!" Quill yelled as more Sakaaran soldiers moved in.

Mikey groaned in frustration and rolled his eyes. "How many more of these dudes do we have to fight?!"

The crew fought and blasted their way to the flight deck, but the door still hadn't been opened by Gamora yet. Groot pounded on the door, but even he couldn't punch through it. Quill brought out the Hadron Enforcer and activated it, preparing to use it on Ronan the second they get in.

Finally, the door slid open and two Sakaaran guards were there waiting for them. Just then Gamora blasted her way through the floor and jumped out shooting a guard down. Drax pulled out his knife and killed the other one.

Standing on the deck and facing the window, Ronan the Accuser turned around and glared at the crew. His hammer glowed purple from the power of the Infinity Stone, as did his eyes.

Wasting no time, Quill aimed the Enforcer at Ronan and fired. Ronan didn't even attempt to dodge the bullet and just stood there. The moment the bullet hit him square in the chest, he was seemingly destroyed in an explosion.

The whole room was filled with smoke and everyone stood still.

"You did it!" Drax exclaimed.

Quill, himself, was certain that they had, indeed, won the battle and smirked.

But something didn't feel right to Mikey. Maybe it was because in every action movie he ever saw, the hero would deliver a killing blow to the villain and the audience would be led to believe that the battle was finally over. But then the villain would sudden appear out of nowhere even though it was impossible for him to still be alive.

And sure enough, as the smoke cleared, Ronan stood up and faced the crew once again. Other than the burning spot on his chest where the bullet hit him, there wasn't a single scratch on his body. He aimed his hammer at the group and used the Stone's power to blast them all away with an invisible force.

Drax bounced right back up and charged at Ronan. But the latter merely grabbed him by the throat and slowly choked him to death as he lifted him off the ground.

"I was mistaken," Ronan said in a cold, deep voice. "I do remember your family. Their screams were pitiful. I-" Suddenly, the chain of Mikey's nunchucks wrapped itself around his arm, and he looked over at the Turtle who had a hold on him.

Mikey glared at him and tugged at the chain. "LET HIM GO!" he yelled.

Smiling sadistically, Ronan tossed Drax away like a ragdoll and pulled on the chain, making Mikey fly straight toward him. He knocked down the Turtle when he got close enough and pinned him to the floor by stepping on his shell with one foot.

He then looked directly at Drax. "Now watch as I kill your new family." He slowly applied more force to his foot and Mikey screamed in pain as he felt his shell being cracked in half.

Drax roared in fury and charged at Ronan once again. But before he could reach him, a Ravager ship crashed through the window. Its pilot, Rocket, screamed as he plowed straight into Ronan. Luckily, Mikey wasn't hit by the ship and it missed him by a mere inch. But his shell ached so badly that he could barely move, and he faintly heard the sounds of Rocket's ship crashing.

He felt someone pick him up and carry him. He lifted his head and saw Groot looking down at him worriedly. "Ngh...Groot...my shell really hurts," he whimpered. He looked around him and saw Quill carrying an unconscious Rocket and Gamora dragging Drax up the stairs.

The ship rumbled as debris fell down all around them, which meant that they were going to crash soon.

Mikey clutched onto Groot in fear and looked over at Quill. "Quill? Is...this it?"

Quill said nothing, but the look in his eyes said it all.

This was really the end.

Sighing softly, Mikey closed his eyes and leaned his head against Groot's chest. _I'm sorry, bros...April...Casey...Master Splinter. I love you all so much._

But then Groot gently put Mikey down and stretched his arms out to his sides. Branches grew from out of his body and surrounded the whole crew. At first Mikey thought that Groot was pulling them all into one final group hug, but then he noticed that the branches were taking the form of a protective ball.

He finally understood. Groot was going to shield them from the impact of the crash.

But what would happen to Groot?

Soon they were encased in a giant nest, and Groot even grew leaves to provide them with even more protection. He also released some glowing particles so that they wouldn't be in the dark.

Rocket, who had regained consciousness, crawled towards Groot. "No, Groot! You can't!" he begged as he looked up at his friend. "You'll die!"

Mikey's eyes widened in horror.

 _Die?_

No. Nononononono! NO!

"NO!" Mikey scrambled towards Groot and tried to break the branches off his body in a desperate attempt to save him. He couldn't bear to lose another person who was important to him. He just couldn't! "Groot, stop! _Please!_ Don't do this!"

But Groot used vines to gently pull Mikey away and he smiled sadly at his young friend. There was no fear in the tree creature's dark eyes. Only peace.

"W-Why are you doing this?" Rocket's voiced cracked with emotion and his brown eyes brimmed with tears. "Why...?"

Using a vine to gently wipe a tear off Rocket's cheek, Groot looked around at all his friends and spoke three simple yet very powerful words that Mikey would never forget.

 ** _"We...Are...Groot."_**

Groot's smiling face was the last thing Mikey saw before a bright light completely blinded him.

Then there was nothing but silence and darkness.

 **I got emotional while writing this part... :,(**


	8. Chapter 8

**I've had so much fan writing this crossover! Thank you all so much for your reviews and support. And stayed turned for the sequel, "Savin' The Galaxy Again"! :D**

 **NOTE: There will probably be grammar mistakes which I will fix later.**

 _...child, things'll get brighter_

 _Someday, yeah_

 _We'll put it together and we'll get it undone_

 _Someday when your head is much lighter_

Mikey slowly opened his eyes and the first he saw was the clear blue sky. He could also hear some old song from the 70's playing. Was this Heaven?

He moved slightly and his body immediately ached all over.

Nope. He was still alive.

He groaned as he slowly sat up and looked at his surroundings. The Dark Aster had crashed in the middle of the city and was in ruins. A crowd of Xandarians had gathered around at the site of the crash, absolute shock on their faces.

Drax was lying on the ground, badly hurt but still alive, his left hand twitching. Next to him was Quill's tape deck, which was surprisingly still functional and even playing a song. Gamora moaned as she slowly and painfully got up. Quill was so hurt that he could hardly move. Rocket was crawling toward a pile of branches and picked up a twig.

Mikey's heart skipped a beat when he suddenly remembered Groot heroic sacrifice to save them all. He quickly got on his knees and frantically looked around for any sign of Groot. "Groot?! Groot, where are you?! Groot, answer me, _please_!"

"M-Mikey..." Said Turtle turned his head and Gamora was looking at him with sad eyes. "He's gone," she softly told him.

Mikey shook his head, tears burning his eyes. "No. No, he can't be gone. He can't be." He picked up two handfuls of twigs and pressed them against his face as he cried. "Groot...come back...come back...!"

"I called him an idiot," Rocket whispered in a pained, choked-up voice, gingerly holding the twig in his hand.

Groot was the most kindhearted, pure person Mikey had ever met, and even though their time together was short, he knew that he had made a lifelong friend in the tree creature.

And now his friend was gone forever.

He heard the people gasping and lifted his head to see them backing away with looks of horror on their faces. He slowly turned around and his blood boiled with unspeakable rage as he watched Ronan stepping from out of the wreckage unscathed.

He wanted to kill this guy, plain and simple.

Rocket breathed heavily as he stood up and faced Ronan, the fur on his tail sticking out and his ears back. _"YOU KILLED GROOT!"_ he yelled in fury as he blindly charged at the Kree murderer.

Ronan merely scoffed and pushed Rocket away using the power of the Stone.

Mikey activated his kusarigama and his eyes became white as his inner killer took over. Roaring and spinning his blade, he leapt right at Ronan. But like with Rocket, Ronan used the Stone to throw him aside. Mikey crashed into a pile of debris, the impact causing his already injured shell to throb with unbearable pain.

"Behold! Your 'Guardians of the Galaxy'!" Ronan mockingly announced to the crowd. "What fruit have they wrought? Only that my father and his father shall finally know vengeance!"

Despite the pain that he was in, Mikey slowly got on his knees and grinned his kusarigama, glaring murderously at Ronan. "Vengeance?" he hissed. "I'll show you vengeance." He was about to charge at Ronan again with a strong hand grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"Michelangelo," Drax quietly spoke to him. "That is not the way."

"I don't care!" Mikey yelled as he attempted to pull his arm away. "Let me go!"

Drax only tightened his grip. "No. I mean, that is not the way to avenge our friend." He nodded at Rocket, who was getting the Hadron Enforcer ready.

"But...we already tried that and it didn't work," Mikey whispered.

"We won't be aiming at _him_ ," Drax focused his eyes on the Stone that was embedded in Ronan's hammer. Mikey followed his gaze and immediately understood. Drax helped him onto his feet and they slowly made their way toward Rocket.

Meanwhile, Quill was distracting Ronan by dancing to the music that was playing on his track, much to the confusion of everyone else, especially Ronan. Any other time, Mikey would've found this to be hilarious, but he was too distraught over the death of Groot to even laugh and instead focused on helping Drax and Rocket with the Enforcer.

Ronan had finally lost his patience with Quill. "What are you _doing?!_ " he yelled.

Quill smiled. "I'm distracting you, ya big turd blossom!"

The Hadron Enforcer clicked in Drax's hands as it was activated and Ronan whipped his head to them. Rocket quickly connected two cables and the Hadron fired, hitting Ronan's hammer and destroying it.

Everything happened so fast. The moment the Stone was freed, Quill took a big leap and reached for it. Ronan attempted to catch it before he did, but the human was too quick and he caught it first. As soon as Quill grabbed the Stone, the whole group, save for the crowd of Xandarians, was surrounded in a black cloud that swirled at an incredible speed and purple balls of fire shot everywhere.

The wind that whipped in Mikey's face burned his eyes and he had to shield them with his arms. But he could hear Quill screaming in pain, and that could only mean that the Stone was killing him.

Then he could hear Gamora screaming, "PETER! TAKE MY HAND! TAKE MY HAND!"

He opened his eyes slightly and saw Quill reaching for Gamora's hand. His face was actually peeling away and Mikey gasped in horror at the gruesome sight. Once he took Gamora's hand, some of the Stone's power was transferred to her. Gamora's skin started to crack and burn but she wouldn't let go of Quill's hand.

Mikey then saw Drax slowly making his way toward Quill and reached out to him. The muscular tattooed man slapped his hand on Quill's shoulder and he received some of the power.

Finally, Rocket stood up on a rock next to Drax and reached for his hand, though all he could manage to grab was Drax's finder. He threw his head back and screamed in agony as the power flowed into his small body.

Mikey remembered the Collector's words back on Knowhere, _"Once, for a moment, a group was able to share the energy amongst themselves, but even they were quickly destroyed by it."_

His brain was telling him not to go through with it since it had been done before and the end result was disastrous. Sharing the power of the Stone was suicide.

But his heart urged him to go help his new friends, even if meant his life. And as always, he followed his heart and fought against the wind to get to Rocket. He reached a hand out to the raccoon and touched him on the shoulder.

Energy burned in his veins as it flowed throughout his entire body, and his could feel his shell crack even further. He howled in pain and squeezed his eyes shut, but refused to let go, even it was slowly killing him.

Then he felt a warm hand grab his and he managed to slightly turn his head and open his eyes.

Groot was standing at his side and smiling down at him.

"...Groot...?" Mikey gasped.

Suddenly the pain began to fade away and the cracks in his shell closed up. He felt...amazing, empowered, like nothing in the entire universe could beat him. He squeezed both Rocket's shoulder and Groot's hand and faced Ronan with the other Guardians.

Ronan couldn't believe his eyes. "You're mortal! _How?!_ "

"You said it yourself, bitch," Quill said as his face was restored and his eyes glowed purple. "We're the Guardians of the Galaxy."

Ronan roared as charged at the group, but then Quill opened up his left hand and released some energy which flowed into Ronan's body. It overwhelmed the Kree maniac and his body was quickly destroyed in a purple firefly explosion.

The winds died down and the black smoke cleared. Mikey released a trembling sigh as the energy left him and looked to his left, but Groot wasn't there. His hand was holding only air now. His eyes filled with tears and he let go of Rocket.

Quill quickly put the Stone in an orb as everyone recomposed themselves, and then Yondu and the other Ravagers pushed their way through the crowd.

Well, well, well," Yondu chuckled as he approached the Guardians. "Quite the light show. Ain't this sweet. But you got some business to attend to before all the nookie-nookie starts."

Mikey sighed and shook his head. Did that guy really have to do this now right after they lost Groot? "Dude, why can't you just leave us alone?"

"I'd be more than happy to. But first..." Yondu held his hand out. "...gimmie the Stone, boy."

Gamora shook her head and turned to Quill, "Peter, you can't," she softly begged him.

Quill took a couple of steps toward his former captain. "You gotta reconsider this, Yondu. I don't know who you're selling this to, but the only way the universe can survive is if you give it to the Nova Corps."

Yondu only sneered at him. "I may be as pretty as angel as an angel, but I sure as hell ain't one. Hand it over, son."

To Mikey's dismay, Quill reluctantly gave Yondu the orb. The blue man laughed in triumph as he turned to leave, but Quill stopped him.

"Yondu! Do not open that orb," he warned. "You know that, right? You've seen what it does to people."

Yondo smirked and chuckled before he continued on his way. Everyone watched as he and the Ravagers stepped into their ship and took off...with the Infinity Stone.

"'Pretty as an angel'?" Mikey grumbled. "More like as ugly as a mandrill's butt."

Suddenly Quill pulled out another orb from his jacket and smiled at Mikey and Gamora. "He's gonna be so pissed when he realizes I switched out the orb on him."

Mikey sighed in relief while Gamora chuckled weakly. "He was gonna kill you, Peter," she said.

Quill nodded. "Oh, I know. But he was about the only family I had."

Gamora gently touched his arm. "No," she told him with a warm smile. "He wasn't."

Mikey heard someone sobbing and turned to see Rocket sitting next to the pile of Groot's branches and holding a twig in his hands. He walked over there and sat down in the rubble next to him.

He wanted to hug Rocket, but he knew that the raccoon wasn't the touchy-feely type so he gave him his space and just sat there holding his legs close to his chest. Drax decided to join them and sat down on the other side of Rocket, sighing softly.

None of them said anything for a moment, but then Mikey croaked, "It's not fair."

This made Rocket cry even harder and he bowed his head. Mikey felt another fresh wave of tears coming and buried his face in his knees. The Turtle's shoulders shook as he started to cry again. Drax looked at both of them sympathetically and started to stroke the back of Rocket's head. The raccoon tensed and jerked his head up at the touch, but he quickly relaxed and allowed Drax to comfort him.

Mikey continued to weep until something came to mind. He lifted his head and dried his eyes. "Rocket...?" he sniffled.

Rocket wiped his black nose with his arm. "What?" he rasped.

"Whenever Groot lost an arm or leg, he could just grow it back, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Well...what if Groot can grow back, you know, a whole new body?"

Drax looked at Mikey then at Rocket. "Is that possible?"

Rocket looked down at the twig in his hands in thought. The kid had a point. It may be wishful thinking, but still...

* * *

"This thing itches," Rocket grumbled as he, Drax, and Mikey walked down the halls of the Nova Corps headquarters. He was wearing a new blue outfit that Nova Corps provided him, and in his hands was a pot with a twig planted in it. "I hate it."

"Aw, come on, Rocket," Mikey smiled at him. "You look good in blue."

"As soon as we leave Xandar, I'm buying some new clothes." Rocket chuckled to himself. "Well, maybe not 'buy' but..."

Mikey looked at him disapprovingly. "Rocket..."

"I'm kiddin'!" Rocket laughed, but then he mumbled, "Maybe."

The four entered the main hall where Gamora, Quill, and Nova Prime all waited for them. Nova Prime smiled when she saw them.

"Your friends have arrived," she told Gamora and Quill. She folded her hands as she addressed the whole group. "On behalf of the Nova Corps, we'd like to express our profound gratitude for your help in saving Xandar."

Mikey smiled with pride. If only his bros were here to see-

"HEY!"

Everyone turned to see Mikey's brothers running into the room, and Raph and Donnie were dragging the turtle thief who was now in cuffs. Mikey's eyes widened in shock and his jaw dropped.

Leo marched right up to Nova Prime. "There, see? We have the real thief! Now clear our brother of all charges because we won't go back to our planet without-!"

"Uh, Leo?"

The leader stopped talking when he heard Mikey's voice and turned around. His midnight blue eyes became large and he smiled big. "MIKEY!" He rushed to his youngest brother and wrapped his arms around him in a tight hug.

Donnie and Raph pushed the thief into the arms of two Nova officers and joined in on the hug.

"Mikey! We were so worried about you, man!" Raph laughed as he rubbed his cheek against Mikey's.

"We heard you escaped from prison!" Donnie patted his shell. "Way to go!"

Mikey laughed as his brothers finally released him. "Well, I never would've gotten out if it weren't for these guys," he said as he pointed to the other Guardians. "Guys, this is Peter Quill. He's from Earth, too. He still listens to old school music with a Walkman, though. The big guy with the wicked tattoos is Drax. Don't use metaphors with him, though, 'cause he takes things literally. The lady is Gamora, a really cool and fierce warrior in a chick's body. The one who looks like a raccoon is Rocket. But don't let his size fool you. Inside that tiny head is a really big brain."

Rocket lowered his brow. "Hey. Who you callin' 'tiny'?" he gruffed.

Mikey took the pot out of Rocket's hand and presented it to his brothers. "And finally, this is Groot, the coolest guy in the galaxy."

The Turtles looked at the pot confused, seeing only a twig before them.

"Uh, Mikey? That's a stick," Raph said.

Mikey knew that Raph didn't mean to be so rude since he didn't know any better. He smiled and nodded, looking down at the pot fondly. "Right now he's just a stick. But he's gonna get bigger and stronger, and hopefully the next time we meet he'll be fully grown."

Gamora smiled sadly as she walked over to Mikey and placed her hand on his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.

Mikey took a deep breath and fought back the oncoming tears. "Anyway, the five...I mean, the six of us are now officially the Guardians of the Galaxy. We just saved, like, the whole galaxy from this really crazy and powerful guy named Ronan." Mikey grinned and pointed to himself. "That's right. This guy saved the galaxy while you guys were doing...whatever it was you were doing while I was gone."

"We were searching all over the galaxy for the guy who framed you," Donnie nodded to the turtle thief.

"Ah, yes," Corpsman Dey, now Denarian, approached the thief. "I recognize you. Peena Slitter. Wanted on over twenty planets for robbery. Evaded capture for four years. Well, guess what? You're gonna serve eighty in jail."

"Aww, crap," the thief groaned and slumped in the officers' hold.

* * *

Mikey hated saying goodbye, especially to friends. But he still had a planet to save.

He kept his promise to Quill and used the Think-a-Food machine in the Ulixes to whip up a supreme pizza for his friend. As he carefully slid the freshly made pizza into a box, April approached him and rubbed his shell in comfort.

"You'll see them again someday, Mikey," she softly said.

"I really hope so," Mikey said in a quiet, somber voice. "'Cause they're the coolest guys ever and I had the best time with them."

He stepped out of the ship with the pizza box in his hands and saw the Guardians interacting with his brothers and Casey. Fugitoid was having a conversation with Nova Prime, but judging by the smile on the older woman's face, it was a friendly one.

Leo offered Quill his hand to shake. "I just want to thank you again for looking after our brother."

Quill smiled and shook his hand. "You're lucky to have a brother like him. He's a great kid." He looked up and saw Mikey walking toward them. He grinned widely when he saw the pizza. "Alright! Mmmm, that smells great. I hadn't had a slice of pizza since I was eight."

Mikey smiled a little as he handed the box to Quill. "Heh, yeah. But this pizza's the best in the pizza in the entire universe, so savor every bite, dude."

Quill chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, will do." His smile slowly dropped and he sighed softly as he set the box down. "Look, Mikey...we're really gonna miss having you around, so who knows? We might decide to abduct you one day and take you on another galactic adventure."

Mikey chuckled at the joke. "Looking forward to it."

Quill held out his hand and Mikey took it. They gave each other a fond squeeze and Quill playfully slapped Mikey on the shoulder. "Until then, try to stay outta trouble, kid."

Mikey nodded and walked over to Gamora. The assassin said nothing, but he could clearly see tears in her eyes, and she knelt down to give the Turtle a hug.

He sucked in a deep, choked up breath and hugged her back. "I'll miss you, Gamora."

She nodded and hugged him tighter. "You are a brave and honorable young man, Mikey. Never let anyone convince you otherwise." She pulled away and quickly dried her eyes before the tears would drop.

Drax, on the other hand, was letting it all flow and tears came running down his cheeks in steams.

Mikey laughed and sobbed at the same time. "Aw, come on, Drax. You're gonna make _me_ lose it now." He wrapped his arms around the large man's waist and squeezed as tight as he could.

Drax hugged back and started bawling like a baby, and soon so was Mikey. They stayed like that for a while before they pulled apart and Mikey turned to Rocket.

The raccoon only glared at him with his arms crossed. "So that's it, huh?" he grumbled. "You're just gonna jump ship and leave all the galaxy-saving to us?"

Mikey flinched as he felt the guilt stab at his heart. "I'm sorry, Rocket. I really wish I could stay but-"

"Hey, you know what?" Rocket cut him off. "It's fine. We don't need ya. In fact, we're better off without ya. You've been nothing but a pain in the ass since we first met. They say goodbye, but I say, 'good riddance!'" He huffed and looked away from Mikey.

Everyone looked at the raccoon appalled and disgusted, except Mikey, who smiled sadly at him and gently touched his shoulder.

"I'll miss you, too, Rocket," Mikey said before he turned to leave with his brothers and follow them to the Ulixes.

"Miss you?!" Rocket shouted as he watched Mikey step into the ship. "Didn't you hear a word I said, you stupid reptile?! I don't care if you leave! Not one frickin' bit!"

Mikey turned to look back at the Guardians one last time and waved at them with a sad smile and his eyes wet with tears. Everyone except Rocket waved back, and Drax went back into a bawling fit once the door slid shut.

Rocket ran after the Ulixes as it took off. "DON'T THINK WE'LL BE COMING BACK FOR YA ANYTIME SOON!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "THAT'S IT! GO ON! GET OUTTA HERE! AND DON'T COME BACK UNLESS I ASK YOU TO, WHICH WILL NEVER HAPPEN!"

But as the Ulixes started to get higher and higher into the stratosphere of Xandar, Rocket's shoulders slumped and he looked up at the sky with sad brown eyes. "You sure you wanna go?" he said in a much softer and more quiet voice. "I was beginning to like the tickle fights."

Finally, the ship disappeared into space and Rocket cast his eyes down as his bottom lip trembled. "Don't go," he said barely below a whisper.

* * *

He sighed as he plopped down on the bed exhausted.

He and his bros just saved the Earth from being sucked into the black hole all over again. And after traveling all across the universe and battling a pyscho with godlike powers, all Mikey wanted to do right now was to sleep in his warm, comfy bed that he missed so much.

But before he drifted off to sleep, he pulled out his now repaired T-phone and pressed on the iTunes app. He clicked on the song "Come And Get Your Love" by Redbone, which he heard on Quill's cassette.

 _Hail (hail)_

 _What's the matter with your hair? Yeah_

 _Hail (hail)_

 _What's the matter with your mind and your sign?_

 _And a, oh, oh, oh-a_

He smiled as he listened to the music and slowly closed his eyes, thinking about his other family who was out there somewhere, savin' the galaxy.

 _Come and get your love_

 _Come and get your love_

 _Come and get your love_

 _Come and get your love_


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey everyone! The first chapter to the sequel "Savin' The Galaxy Again" has been posted! Enjoy! And thank you for voting for this story in the 2017 TMNT Universal Reader's Choice Awards! :D**


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